The Complete Works of Swami Ramakrishnananda Volume I

By Compailation

Swami Ramakrishnananda popularly known as Shashi Maharaj as the torch-bearer of the message of Sri Ramakrishna worked tirelessly to spread the ideal of renunciation and service in different parts of South India.

The complete collection of lectures, writings and letters of Swami Ramakrishnananda have been published in 3 Volumes of which this is the first.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312349339

Book preview

Lectures

Swami Ramakrishnananda

A Brief Introduction

Birth and

Early Life

AMONG the numerous lamps that Sri Ramakrishna ignited in the form of his monastic and householder disciples, Swami Ramakrishnananda was one. Affectionately known as Shashi Maharaj, Swami Rama krishnananda was born as Shashibhushan Chakravarty on July 13, 1863, at Ichapur in Bengal.

Shashi was born in a family of worshippers of the Divine Mother. He was the eldest son of Iswar Chandra Chakravarty (1837-1902) who was a great devotee of the Divine Mother. Shashi Maharaj’s mother, Bhavasundari Devi (1846-1925), was an ardent devotee of Divine Mother.

Though not much is recorded of Shashi’s boyhood, he grew up in a spiritually enriching atmosphere. He was a strict vegetarian all through his life.

At the Feet of

Sri Ramakrishna

AFTER finishing his education in the village school, Shashi went to Calcutta for higher English education. He lived with his cousin Sharat (later, Swami Saradananda), who was almost of the same age.

He passed the Calcutta University Entrance examination, and, as he was a brilliant student, won a scholarship. He passed his First Arts examination from Albert College, then entered the Metropolitan College (now Vidyasagar College) for his B.A. His special subjects of study were Sanskrit, English literature, mathematics and philosophy.

Shashi first heard about Sri Ramakrishna from Keshab Chandra Sen, the well known Brahmo Samaj leader. Shashi and his friends said to each other, ‘If Keshab Chandra Sen, whom we honour so much, shows such great reverence for this Paramahamsa, there must be something extraordinary in him.’

Shashi’s spiritual yearning was growing and he looked for a guide. One day, in October 1883, Shashi, Sharat, and some of their friends went to Dakshineshwar to visit Sri Ramakrishna. They found the Master seated on his small couch. He received them cordially and asked them to sit on a mat spread on the floor.

On the very first day Sri Ramakrishna recognized that Shashi and Sharat belonged to his inner circle. The Master said to M. once, ‘When God assumes a human body for the sake of His devotees, many of His devotees accompany Him to this earth. Some of them belong to the inner circle, some to the outer circle, and some become the suppliers of His physical needs.... The Divine Mother used to reveal to me the nature of the devotees before their coming. In a vision I saw that Shashi and Sharat had been among the followers of Christ.’ Shashi and Sharat started visiting the Master frequently and performed spiritual disciplines according to his instructions.

Swami Ramakrishna

Sri Ramakrishna was diagnosed as having a serious throat disease and in 1885, he was moved to Shyampukur Street in Calcutta for undergoing medical treatment. After a month, on the advice of doctors, he was shifted from smoggy Calcutta to a clean, quiet country-house Cossipore garden house.

Shashi followed the Master like a shadow. He was the very embodiment of service, and firmly believed that service to the guru was the highest form of spiritual practice. He practised no other spiritual discipline, knew no other asceticism, travelled to no holy places. Forgetting his personal comforts, he was always ready to serve the Master. His life was a glowing example of dasya bhakti (devotion with attitude of a servant). Sri Ramakrishna also equally loved him and despite his illness, took great pains in moulding Shashi’s spiritual life.

Sometime in the middle of January 1886, when the elder Gopal expressed his desire to distribute twelve pieces of ochre cloth and rosaries to some monks, Sri Ramakrishna suggested to him to present these to his young disciples. Gopal offered them to the Master who himself distributed them among his young disciples. Shashi got an ochre cloth, the garb of a monk, from the Master.

Sri Ramakrishna passed away on 16 August 1886. It was hard for Shashi to believe that the Master had left the physical form. With tearful eyes, he sat near the funeral pyre, with a palm-leaf fan in his hand and remained motionless with grief. Later, he collected the ashes and bones of the Master and put them in an urn. He placed the urn on his head and carried it to the garden house where it was kept on the Master’s bed.

After the

Master’s Passing

SHASHI reluctantly returned home, but soon came to the Baranagore Math that was set in motion by Naren and other disciples. He set up a shrine in a room upstairs; the Master’s relics were brought from Balaram’s house, and a picture of the Master was placed on the altar. The articles that the Master had used at Cossipore were also preserved in the shrine room.

For eleven long years, from 1886 to 1897, Shashi kept a constant vigil over the Master’s relics, seldom visiting any holy place or leaving the Math overnight. He performed the Master’s worship as one serves a living human being. His daily routine was like this:

He would get up at 4:00 a.m. and after washing would enter the shrine to rouse the Master from his bed. He would then offer a twig for a toothbrush and water to rinse his mouth. Next he would offer some sweet made of coconut and a glass of water for breakfast, and tobacco to smoke. Later he would pick flowers, sweep the shrine, wash the vessels used for worship and make the necessary preparations for worship. He would then go to the nearby market to buy the groceries. After returning from the market, he would help the cook cut vegetables, and then he would go to bathe in the Ganga and bring holy water for worship. Afterwards, he would do puja and offer cooked food to the Master. In the evening, he would conduct arati. It was a divine sight to see him conducting the evening arati.

In December 1886, Shashi and some other disciples went to Antpur, the country home of Baburam (later Swami Premananda). Inspired by Narendra, they took informal monastic vows during a nightlong vigil around a sacred fire (dhuni). Later they discovered that their vigil had taken place on Christmas Eve. A month later, they took formal monastic vows by performing the traditional viraja homa in Baranagore Math. Narendra gave the name Swami Ramakrishnananda to Shashi, knowing that Shashi’s devotion to the Master was second to none.

Not only did Shashi Maharaj attend to service of Sri Ramakrishna, he played a pivotal role in the monastic life of the Baranagore Math. While other brother disciples meditated or busied themselves in spiritual practices, Shashi Maharaj looked after their physical needs. Swami Vivekananda paid glowing tribute to Shashi Maharaj’s dedicated service and devotion thus:

‘Shashi was the main pillar of the Math. Without him,

life in the monastery would have been impossible.

Often, the monks would be lost in prayer and

meditation with no thought of food, and Swami

Ramakrishnananda would wait with their meals or

even drag them out of meditation.’

In February 1892, the Math moved to Alambazar in North Calcutta. Shashi Maharaj continued his vigil and worship of Sri Ramakrishna here.

Shashi Maharaj was learned and devotional; he was not a gloomy ascetic. After dinner he would dramatically read Mark Twain’s The Innocents at Home and The Innocents Abroad. He would roar with laughter as he read them and the others would laugh along with him. He enjoyed solving mathematical problems; sometimes after his noon rest he would work on the mathematics on a slate or piece of paper. He also translated the teachings of Sri Rama krishna from Bengali into Sanskrit verses and got them serially published in Vidyodaya, a Sanskrit journal.

Swami Vivekananda

In February 1897, Swami Vivekananda returned to Calcutta from the West. At Madras, when devotees requested Swamiji to start a permanent centre, Swamiji had said, ‘I shall send you one who is more orthodox than the most orthodox Brahmins of the South and who is at the same time incomparable in performing worship, scriptural knowledge and meditation on God.’

In March 1897, before going to Darjeeling, Swamiji called aside Shashi Maharaj and said, ‘I have given word to my friends that I shall very soon send one of my brother disciples there. I have selected you. You are to go to Madras and found a monastery there in the name of our beloved Master.’

Shashi Maharaj neither raised any objection nor pleaded any excuse. Leaving aside his eleven years of vigil over his Master’s remains, he quietly obeyed the leader, and in the month of March itself, along with Swami Sadananda, a disciple of Swamiji, left for Madras by a steamer.

Founding of

the Madras Math

SWAMI RAMAKRISHNANANDA arrived at Madras on 17 March 1897. He was warmly received by a group of devotees and admirers of Swami Vivekananda at Madras.

Swami Ramakrishnananda was accommodated at Flora Cottage situated on the Ice House Road. Later he was shifted to the Ice House, which was then owned by Sri Biligiri Iyengar, a wealthy devotee of Swami Vivekananda. Swamiji had stayed at Ice House for nine days on his return from the West in 1897.

Sri Iyengar placed the ground floor of the building at Swami Ramakrishnananda’s disposal. As in Baranagore and Alambazar, Ramakrishnananda set up a shrine at this new residence and installed a small picture of the Master that he had brought with him and started his seva.

Besides ‘seva’ in the shrine, his service was extended to preaching of the Master’s message in different parts of the Madras city. His preaching activities consisted of weekly classes on the Gita, the Upanishads, and Bhagavata, at the invitation of different religious organizations in the city.

Shashi Maharaj followed this formidable schedule of classes, with minor alterations, for years. He would travel to different places in the city in a Jutka, a narrow, inconvenient horse-drawn carriage which was in vogue those days. He had to travel a mile and a half from Ice House to hire a Jutka. Added to this was the fact that he was his own cook and servant, as there was no one to assist him.

Some of his classes were very well attended, but some were not. It is mentioned in his reminiscences that there were occasions when he was the only person present for the lecture. But least perturbed by it, he would meditate for an hour at the place, and return.

Another activity that he added to his schedule was the annual celebration of Sri Ramakrishna’s birthday. This was an elaborate two-day event, consisting of puja, homa, hari-katha, sankirtan, a public meeting, and feeding the poor.

Shashi Maharaj’s life was full of hardships and difficulties. The financial condition of the just founded Math was far from satisfactory. But he would rarely speak of these difficulties to the devotees. He always turned to Sri Ramakrishna who was a living presence for him. Once a group of devotees heard him angrily speak to the portrait of Sri Ramakrishna thus: ‘You have brought me here, old man, and left me helpless. Are you testing my powers of patience and endurance? I will not go and beg hereafter for my sake or even for yours. If anything comes unasked, I will offer to you and share the prasadam. Or, I will bring sea sand for offering to you and I shall live upon that.’ On all such occasions, mysteriously, some devotee would arrive with provisions, and the offering in the shrine to Sri Guru Maharaj would be made as usual.

Sometime in 1899, Shashi Maharaj came to know many details of the life and teachings of Sri Ramanujacharya and thus was conceived a series of articles on Ramanuja’s life that he contributed to the Bengali monthly Udbodhan published from Calcutta. The articles were published from 1899 to 1906. In order to verify the authenticity of the information provided in the articles, he visited Sriperumbudur and Kanchipuram.

In 1901, when Swamiji wanted Shashi Maharaj to come to Belur Math for giving him definite guidelines for the work at Madras, Shashi Maharaj took Brahmachari Vasanta with him. Swamiji initiated Vasanta into sannyasa in the first week of January 1902 with Shashi Maharaj chanting the sannyasa mantras during the ceremony. Vasanta was named Swami Paramananda. He came back to Madras and was under Shashi Maharaj’s care till 1906 when he was sent to New York to assist in the Vedanta work there.

Before leaving Belur Math, Shashi Maharaj had given four hundred rupees to Swamiji as his contribution to Belur Math. This deeply moved Swamiji.

On his second visit to the West, Swami Vivekananda arrived at Madras on June 24, 1899 along with Swami Turiya-nanda and Sister Nivedita.

At Shashi Maharaj’s request, Swamiji had brought Ganga water for use in the Madras Math, in a large porcelain jar. Unfortunately, owing to the plague in Calcutta, Swamiji was not permitted to alight from the ship. Shashi Maharaj thus went in a boat near the ship and placed in a basket sweets and other eatables meant for Swamiji. The basket was drawn up and in the same basket the jar containing Ganga water was sent down. It is said that Swamiji tied the jar with a rope so tightly that Shashi Maharaj could not untie it. Hence Swamiji also sent down a knife to cut it. (The jar is still preserved in the Ramakrishna Math, Chennai and the knife is kept at the Ramakrishna Museum at Belur Math).

Before returning, Shashi Maharaj made the boatman go round the ship three times and said, ‘Let us at least make a pradakshina of the two great souls whose feet we have not been able to touch today.’

Swami Vivekananda passed away on July 4, 1902 in his room at Belur Math. Swamiji left his body at around 9 p.m. At the same time, unaware of these developments, Shashi Maharaj was meditating at the Ice House in Chennai. Shashi Maharaj called Swami Satchidananda, who was staying with him then, and said, ‘I saw Swamiji standing before me and he said to me, Look here, Shashi, I threw away this body like spitting out spittle, and he spat twice or thrice.’

Both swamis could not figure out the meaning of that vision, and neither of them got any more sleep that night. The next day, Shashi Maharaj received a cable from Belur Math bringing the sad news of Swamiji’s Mahasamadhi.

A memorial meeting in honour of Swami Vivekananda was held at Pachaiyappa Hall on July 29, 1902. Shashi Maharaj was one of the speakers in the meeting. He said, ‘The world outside needs the light of wisdom of our Rishis quite as much as we do in India, and I am anxious to see an Ananda Mandir (a memorial in Swamiji’s name) rise somewhere in a conspicuous part of the city from where that light may be made to radiate in ever increasing brilliance to all near as well as distant...’

As a sequel to his appeal a committee of the Ramakrishna Vivekananda Home was formed which created Swami Vivekananda Memorial Fund ‘to perpetuate his memory in Madras.’

Expanded Work

and Travls

KALIPADA GHOSH, a disciple of

Sri Ramakrishna, invited Shashi Maharaj in 1903 to Trivandrum. Kalipada Ghosh was employed as the local agent for M/s John Dickinson & Co. Ltd. Shashi Maharaj stayed at his house and took part in the Birthday Celebrations of Sri Ramakrishna which included feeding a large number of poor people. During that occasion he delivered a lecture on the subject ‘Unity in Variety.’

Swami Ramakrishnananda’s name as an able preacher of the message of Sri Ramakrishna began to spread. Invitations for lectures and visits began to pour in. Vedanta Society of Ulsoor, Bangalore, invited him in 1903. When he reached Bangalore Cantonment Railway Station, in July 1903, at six in the morning, he was accorded a royal reception. He was taken in a procession of some 4000 people, which included 53 bhajan parties, through the principal streets of the cantonment area.

During his twenty days’ stay at Bangalore, Shashi Maharaj gave twelve lectures and gave several private interviews. His lectures were very well attended and he roused great enthusiasm among his listeners. He spoke at various colleges and temples in the city. At Bangalore, he had an audience with the Maharaja Krishnarajendra Wadiyar, the well-known ruler of Mysore State.

In October 1903, Swami Ramakrishnananda visited Mysore for three days. He gave a talk in Sanskrit at the Sanskrit College. Soon after he came back to Madras, he was invited to speak at Sholapur (now in Maharashtra) and he accordingly went there in July 1904. He gave a lecture on ‘Happiness’ at Rippon Hall at Sholapur.

At the invitation of devotees, Shashi Maharaj visited the ancient port town of Machilipatnam (now in Andhra Pradesh) in August, 1904 and inaugurated Vivekananda Mandira—a temple built in memory of Swami Vivekananda, built under the aegis of Hindu Matha Bala Samajam, an organisation founded in 1890. The Temple continues to be a place of religious and cultural activities.

Shashi Maharaj visited Tirunelveli (in Tamil Nadu) from 25-31 December 1904. He was accorded a befitting welcome at the Tirunelveli railway station and was taken in a procession to the Math. Later he visited the Tirunelveli town at the request of devotees and spoke at the Nellaiyappar Temple which was attended by more than 3,000 people.

After returning to Madras, in January 1905 he went to Kerala where he inaugurated Sanatana Dharma Vidyalaya (for boys) at Alleppey on January 18, 1905. He spoke at Theosophical Society, Ernakulam and at Maharaja’s College.

At the invitation of Akshaya Kumar Sen, a lay disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, and motivated Ramakrishna Seva Samiti at Rangoon, Swami Ramakrishnananda went to take part in the the birthday celebrations of Sri Ramakrishna.

A group of devotees employed in M/s John Dickinson & Co. Ltd. (of which Kalipada Ghosh was the local agent) had been worshipping Sri Ramakrishna at their place in Topiwala Chawl on Grant Road, Bombay, and were keen to have Swami Ramakrishnananda for the annual celebrations.

The birthday celebrations of Sri Ramakrishna were held on April 1, 1905 at Famji Cawasjee Hall with Sir Balakrishna in the chair. Besides the address on these occasions Shashi Maharaj delivered three lectures in Bombay, at one of which Balagangadhara Tilak, the great patriot and political leader, presided. Tilak pleaded for starting a permanent centre of the Ramakrishna Mission at Bombay but this materialised only two decades later.

Placing the Math on

Firm Foundations

DURING the early years,

Shashi Maharaj had a very hard time in Madras. He had very little assistance. The financial condition of the Math was far from satisfactory. He stayed at the Ice house (now called Vivekanandar Illam or Vivekananda House, a sub-centre of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai) till 1906. Four years after Biligiri Iyengar who owned the Ice House passed away in 1906, the Ice House building was put up for an auction. Biligiri was a great support for the upcoming Math and, though before passing away he willed some money to Swami Ramakrishnananda, his loss was irreparable.

It seems a few well-wishers of the Math—notably Dr. M.C. Nanjunda Rao—tried to bid, but when the amount rose beyond their means, they had to withdraw.

When the building changed hands, the Math was temporarily shifted to an outhouse of the Ice House. Fortunately, around this period, sometime in July 1906, a plot of land at Mylapore was donated by a devotee, Sri Akula Kondiah Chettiar. Swami Abhedananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, who was on a visit to Madras, laid the foundation of the new Math at Mylapore. The work started towards the end of March 1907 and the one-storey building was completed by the beginning of November of the same year.

To Shashi Maharaj Sri Ramakrishna was a living presence. He felt His presence and his actions revealed it. Soon after the construction, the new Math building developed cracks and began to leak. One night as it began to rain Shashi Maharaj went into the shrine and to his surprise found it leaking right over Master’s portrait. Anyone else would have removed the picture to a safer place and gone to sleep but for Shashi Maharaj the Master was a living presence. To remove the photo thus would mean to disturb the Master’s rest. He spread an umbrella and held it over the Master’s portrait and stood there all night until the rains subsided.

After some time, owing to the poor quality of construction, the Math building became unfit for use. Several years later, a new building for the Math was raised on the adjacent plot of land. Swami Brahmananda, the first President of the Ramakrishna Order, laid its foundation in 1916 and later inaugurated it in 1917.

Starting of the

Students’ Home

SWAMI RAMAKRISHNANANDA

had a very tender heart which overflowed with compassion for the poor, the lowly and the lost. Once he came across an orphan boy from Mysore whose parents had died of plague. He took him to the Math and fed him. But the Math itself was under financial strain and the strict religious regimen of the Math was not conducive to the boy’s education. As things would have it, Sri Ramaswamy Iyengar, an ardent follower and friend of Swami Rama krishnananda, offered to arrange for the boy’s board and lodging, by turn, in his friends’ homes. Several months later, Ramu (as Ramaswamy Iyengar was called affectionately) himself came across four boys from Andhra sitting on the roadside. They had come from Guntur, believing they could pursue their studies at Madras, but were harshly disappointed.

Soon after, through Swami Ramakrishnananda’s initiative, a free hostel for boys (now called Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home) was started in a small house in Mylapore. Now the Home has grown into a large institution with 700 destitute and orphan students studying in it.

Starting of a Primary

School, Chennai

SOMETIME in 1906, under the

inspiration of Swami Ramakrishnananda, a few residents of George Town, in North Chennai, started a primary school for girls under the name ‘National Girls School’. In order to raise funds for the school maintenance, it is said that Swami Ramakrishnananda would walk through the streets from Chintadripet to George Town, carrying a large wooden box in his hands. Whatever collections he would get was deposited in the school account maintained at the local post office. The wooden box that he used is preserved at the Chennai Math.

Sri Ramakrishna Math took over the school in 1921. In 1981, the school was moved to its present own building at Basin Bridge Road, Mint, Chennai. The school is at present called ‘National Primary School’.

The Math

at Bangalore

IN August 1904, Shashi Maharaj went to Bangalore at the invitation of Vedanta Society, Ulsoor. He delivered three lectures and left Swami Atmananda, who had accompanied him, to organize a permanent centre in the city. Swamis Atmananda, Vimalananda, and Bodhananda carried on the work in succession till 1906, under Swami Ramakrishnananda’s guidance.

In 1906, Swami Ramakrishnananda accompanied Swami Abhedananda on a short visit to Mysore and Bangalore. They stayed at Mysore from 7-12 August. Besides two public talks by Swami Abhedananda, the schedule consisted of a meeting with the Maharaja of Mysore.

On 20 August 1906, as per Shashi Maharaj’s plan, Swami Abhedananda laid the foundation for the Bangalore Math on a two-acre plot donated by the Dewan of Mysore, Sir V. P. Madhav Rao.

Swami Ramakrishnananda played an important role, as in the case of Madras Math, in raising funds for the new Math at Bangalore. He went from house to house, often accompanied by Sister Devamata, to collect the necessary funds. Sister Devamata was an American lady who met Swami Vivekananda in 1899 in New York. She came to India and spent a few years.

The construction of the Ashrama building was completed by the end of 1908 and its opening was performed on January 20, 1909 by Swami Brahmananda, the first President of the Ramakrishna Order.

One may also mention here that under the guidance of Swami Ramakrishnananda several groups of devotees were formed under the name ‘Vivekananda Society’ in many places around Madras such as Vaniyambadi, Arasampatti, Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri.

Swami Ramakrishnananda’s public lectures and weekly talks were quite well received. Subsequently, some of his students took initiative and brought out these lectures and talks in book form.

With Brother Disciples

and Holy Mother

SWAMI RAMAKRISHNANANDA’S

loving concern and deep spirituality drew many brother disciples and admirers of Sri Ramakrishna to Madras.

Swami Subhodananda visited Madras on his pilgrimage to South India in 1897. Swami Trigunatitananda, another direct disciple, visited Madras on his way to America in November 1902. Swami Ramakrishnananda, accompanied by Swami Paramananda, went to Colombo in 1906, to receive Swami Abhedananda, a brother disciple, who had arrived from America. They together visited many places in Sri Lanka before reaching Tuticorin on their way to Madras.

Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi

In 1906, Swami Premananda came to South India for a pilgrimage with his mother. Swami Ramakrishnananda made all arrangements for them and even travelled with them.

In January 1903, Swami Sadananda, Sister Nivedita and Brahmachari Amulya (later, Swami Shankarananda, the seventh President of the Ramakrishna Order) came to Madras and were deeply impressed by Shashi Maharaj’s preaching activities.

Swami Ramakrishnananda strongly believed that the whole of the South would be sanctified by the touch of the blessed feet of Holy Mother and Swami Brahmananda. He therefore worked hard to arrange for their visits on a grand scale, in spite of insufficient funds.

Swami Ramakrishnananda went to Puri in mid 1908 to escort Swami Brahmananda, who was sojourning at Puri then, to Madras. Swami Brahmananda and Swami Rama krishnananda arrived at Madras by the end of 1908. After staying some days at Madras, Swami Ramakrishnananda accompanied Swami Brahmananda on a pilgrimage. First, they went to Rameshwaram, and stayed three days as the guests of the Raja of Ramnad. On the way to Madras from Rameshwaram, they halted at Madurai to visit the famous Meenakshi temple, and stayed for three days.

In February 1911, Holy Mother came to Madras and stayed for a month in a two-storied house that Swami Ramakrishnananda had rented opposite the Math.

Swami Ramakrishnananda arranged for Mother’s pilgrimage to Madurai and Rameshwaram and accompanied her and her party. About her visit to Rameshwaram, Holy Mother would say later, ‘Ah! Shashi procured for me 108 bel leaves made of gold to worship Shiva at Rameshwaram.’

On their way to Chennai, the party also visited Madurai. Holy Mother visited the Madurai Meenakshi Temple, Mariamman Teppakulam (temple is located on an island in a pond), and the old palace of Nayakas. Swami Ramakrishnananda accompanied Mother to all these places.

Holy Mother, along with Shashi Maharaj and other companions, arrived at Bangalore on March 24th, Friday, by train from Madras. Her visit was the result of earnest efforts to bring her to Bangalore by Swami Nirmalananda, the then President of Bangalore Ashrama.

Holy Mother’s arrival at Bangalore was marked by large gatherings of people who came to pay their respects to her on different days. An interesting incident took place during this time:

It was evening time. After a daylong shower of radiance, the sun was about to set. The sylvan and silent landscape of the Ashrama dotted with flowering trees, shrubs and chirping birds added charm to the atmosphere. Accompanied by two or three of her companions, Mother came out of her room and, in order to have a better view of the setting sun climbed the large, gentle sloping horizontal rock situated behind her room. The sublimity of the atmosphere must have inspired her to sit down for a while on the rock. Indeed it was a great moment.

When Shashi Maharaj learnt of her going to the rock, he said with a surprise: ‘Indeed! Mother has become Parvatavâsini (a dweller of the mountains, an allusion to the Divine Mother Parvati). He, then, hurried towards the place. As he was stout and climbed the low hillock in rapid strides, he began to pant. But undaunted, he went up straight to the Mother, prostrated before her, and chanted the three well-known verses from the Devi Mahatmyam (Chandi) which are used as mantras for the salutation of the Divine Mother: And then Shashi Maharaj prayed ‘Kripa! Kripa!’ Holy Mother caressed his head, as though pacifying a pleading son, till he felt himself fully blessed. Swami Nirmalananda, who had come along with Shashi Maharaj, requested Mother to perform Japa, which of course she did, before returning to her room.

Since then, that sacred hillock has come to be known as Holy Mother’s Rock.

Last Days and

Passin Away

SHASHI MAHARAJ’S life was short

but eventful. For fourteen years, he worked hard to spread the message of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda in South India.

Soon after Holy Mother’s departure for Calcutta, sometimes in April 1911, he became seriously ill with diabetes and tuberculosis. Due to overwork and lack of proper food, he had literally worked himself to the point of death.

At the request of the devotees, he moved to the Bangalore Ashrama for a change and rest. Unfortunately, the bracing climate of Bangalore did not help him. Hence, Swami Brahmananda and Swami Saradananda asked him to go to Calcutta for better treatment. Swami Ramakrishnananda left Bangalore for Calcutta in June 1911 via Madras.

When Swami Brahmananda, who was then at Puri, learnt of Shashi Maharaj’s coming, he went to the railway junction at Khurda Road near Puri to meet him. At the station, Swami Brahmananda entered the compartment and was shocked on seeing Ramakrishnananda’s emaciated body. Maharaj asked him to follow the advice of the doctors implicitly. This was their last meeting.

On 10 June 1911, Swami Ramakrishnananda arrived in Calcutta. He was accommodated in the Udbodhan Office and was placed under the treatment of noted physicians. In spite of the best treatment possible and careful nursing, his condition gradually deteriorated.

Sometimes he would forget his suffering and would passionately talk about the Master for a long time. When the attendant would ask him to keep quiet, the swami would reply, ‘When I talk about the Master, I lose body consciousness, and even the death-pain becomes insignificant.’ During his last days he became inspired when he talked about Christ, and he would relate how Sri Ramakrishna had regarded him as Christ’s companion in his previous life. He also recalled how the Master received the vision of Christ while he was in samadhi, and the very body of Christ had entered into his own. Even in delirium Ramakrishnananda would utter the divine names: ‘Durga, Durga; Shiva, Shiva; Sri Guru, Sri Guru.’

On the morning of his last day, Pulin Mitra, a famous singer and disciple of Swami Brahmananda, came to see him. Swami Ramakrishnananda expressed his vision in a Bengali line, Pohala dukha rajani (the night of misery is over), and asked Pulin to take it to Girish Chandra Ghosh, the great dramatist and disciple of the Master, to compose a song. Girish recalled: ‘By the grace of Sri Ramakrishna, I completed the composition immediately. Pulin Mitra sang it before him. He was greatly moved and was satisfied with the composition.’

Pulin sang this song for a long time and Swami Ramakrishnananda listened with rapt attention. It seemed that the song gave him peace because it tallied with his vision. After this he desired to hear another: A Song of Samadhi composed by Swami Vivekananda. Pulin sang that also.

Swami Ramakrishnananda was in an ecstatic mood that whole morning. Doctor J.N. Kanjilal checked him and found him in better condition. He drank a little sanctified water that had been offered to the Master, and for the last three hours of his life he was in samadhi. At 1:00 p.m. he began to perspire, his face flushed, the hair of his body stood on end, and his gaze was fixed between his eyebrows. Swami Ramakrishnananda left his body while in samadhi at 1:10 p.m. on Monday, 21 August 1911. His body was cremated on the bank of the Ganges at the southeast corner of the Vivekananda Temple.

When the news of Shashi Maharaj’s death reached Holy Mother, she remarked with tearful eyes: ‘Alas, Shashi is gone. My back is broken.’

After receiving the sad news at Puri, the grief-stricken Swami Brahmananda exclaimed: ‘The guardian angel of the South has passed away. The southern side is, as it were, covered with darkness.’

The Hindu community of Madras convened a memorial meeting and paid their homage to Swami Ramakrishnananda, who had sacrificed his life for their spiritual development. A large gathering was held on 4 September 1911 at Pachaiyappa Hall in North Madras. Eminent citizens of Madras paid glowing tributes to Swami Ramakrishnananda’s committed and selfless service to the cause of religion and education.

Swami Ramakrishnananda was a perfect combination of the various approaches to God. He was a jnani par excellence but his approach to the Ultimate Reality was full of the nectar of bhakti. His extraordinary life is a living illustration that God-consciousness can be lived in this very life itself. The institutions that he founded are now flourishing centres of learning, religious fervour and service, and he lives on through the inspiring story of his life and personality.

PART - 1

Writings,

Class-notes

and

Reports

on

RAMAKRISHNA-

VIVEKANANDA

CONTENTS

1. What Sri Ramakrishna Came to Teach

2. The Sri Ramakrishna Ideal

3. Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

4. Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

5. Sri Ramakrishna and His Mission

6. The Message of Sri Ramakrishna

7. The Passing of Sri Ramakrishna

8. The Holy Birthday Celebration of Sri Ramakrishna In Madras

9. Five Verses on Vivekananda

10. Harmony of Dharma

11. Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

Sources and References

What

Sri Ramakrishna

Came to Teach

IN this world we love nothing so much as our own egotism. Nothing is so dear to us as our own self. Therefore it is said in the Upanishads,

‘Do not think that you love your wife for the wife’s sake, you love your wife because by loving her your own self is pleased; you do not love your children for the children’s sake, but because your own self is pleased by loving them you love them etc.,’

So the love for your own self is above all other loves. Other loves are secondary, love for your self is primary. Why do we love our own self more than anything else in the universe? To answer this question we must know what we love and what we do not love. We always love beautiful things. We love a handsome man or beautiful woman, not an ugly one. We love sweet words, not harsh words, we love good dishes. We do not love to be out on a burning desert, but in the cool shade of a widespreading tree. In short, we love what harmonizes with our self; we do not love what does not agree with our mind. What harmonizes with my nature, that is what I love.

Thus we see that what has the power to make us happy, we love. What has not the power to make us happy, we hate. We do not like a harsh tongued man or woman, we do not like ugly sights, because they have not the power to make us happy. Now, if there is a man who can make me happy and there is another who can make me more happy and there is a third who can make me most happy, will I not love the last most of all? If then my love is based on the power to give me pleasure, I must love myself most, because I have the power to give myself most pleasure. So I must be the source of all anandam. From myself comes the greatest happiness, so I must be the most pleasing thing to myself in the whole universe. For this reason the love towards myself is primary.

From this it follows that I am the abode of the highest bliss. Therefore, I am anandam. Because, I exist, I am also Sat and because I know that I exist, I am Chit. Hence I am called Satchidanandam. When Brahma first began to create, he created the four firstborn and they at once found out that all that they wanted was inside themselves. Outside was darkness, doubt, fear, everything changing and how can a sane man expect happiness from something which is constantly changing? So they knew that they could never find happiness outside themselves. So when Brahma wanted them to create they said: ‘No, we do not want to create, that will be forgetting our own self, that will be forgetting our own blissful nature, that will be forgetting our all-knowing nature. Why should we create that which will make us forget what everyone is seeking after?’ In this world people are all like the musk deer, who when the musk forms at the navel, smelling the delicious fragrance, think, it must come from some hidden flower and go searching here and there for it, when from themselves comes the odour that maddens them. So man goes hither and thither seeking eternal bliss which can only be found inside himself ‘Why then should we make such foolish people,’ these firstborns asked, ‘who will never know where bliss can be realized, where purity can be realised and where knowledge can be realised? This is a wretched sort of business.’ So they would not create and Brahma had to bring forth a second set of seven children, from whom came all the people of this world.

You see, therefore, because I am the abode of all bliss I love myself; also because I am the source of all knowledge. There is still another thing—I love myself because I am eternal by my very nature. This can be proved. I am tasting, touching, hearing, smelling and seeing everything around me, so long as I am in the wakeful condition. But I do not do this always, for sometimes I fall asleep. Then I do not taste, touch, hear, smell or see. I do not even remember. When I am asleep, although I may love my wife very much and she may be by my side, I do not know her existence; I do not even know my own existence.

You may say then that I am not existing in the dream condition or in sounds-sleep. But that is not the case, because when I wake up, I say, ‘I have been sleeping soundly,’ which shows that I remember that I was not doing all these things, tasting, touching, seeing and hearing. To know this I must have been wide awake at that time; so I was not dead. My eyes were not seeing, it is true, my ears were not hearing, my legs were not walking, my mind was not remembering, but I must have been there, in order to report to my friend that, at that time ‘I had no volition, no perception, no action.’ Therefore you see that in these three conditions, dream, sound-sleep and waking-state, you are existing and conscious.

In this big life between birth and death, the senses rise and set, the mind rises and sets, your body rises and sets, but you never rise or set. In an unbroken steady flow, you are flowing on, from your birth to your death.

Thus you see that behind all things changing, there is something which does not change and as the laws of nature are uniform throughout, you draw your own conclusions from this, just as when you taste one mango, you conclude that all mangoes will have the same taste. You analyse your own body and mind and you find that both are constantly changing. Time was when this body could not go from one place to another, it had to have a nurse to carry it. Then it began to run and jump, then to take gymnastic exercises; and now gradually it is beginning to wane. The power is being taken from the eyes, from the ears, from the nose, from the legs, from the waist, from the mind. So you find the body in constant change and the mind constantly restless. Hence you pronouce that the nature of the body is to change and the nature of the mind is also to change. But go behind and you will find that you never change.

Now, what is meant by change? If the Government changes, it means the going out of one party and the coming in of another. In the climatic changes, it means that it was cold and has become hot or the reverse. Change therefore means the birth of one and death of another. Substitute the words birth and death for change and you can say, ‘Since I am changeless, I must be birthless and deathless.’ So I must be eternal. Hence, I am not only blissful but also eternal by my nature.

‘That I am existing, of this I cannot entertain any doubt.’ Suppose I doubt it, to do this a doubter is necessary; and if I doubt the existence of this doubter, still another doubter must be here and if I doubt this one, there must be another. So the doubter must have to be there, it must continue to exist. Now doubting and thinking are synonymous. You think so long as you doubt. For instance, you see a rope and you take it for a snake; then you think—it may be a rope after all, but the wind moves it and again you think—it may be a snake and at last you see positively, that it is a rope and you are satisfied. So long as there was any doubt in your mind, you kept thinking; the moment you ceased to doubt you stopped thinking about it. Hence Descartes has said, ‘Cogito, ergo sum’ If I doubt my own existence, I must think; and if I think, I must exist. Since furthermore, being can never come out of non-being, if I am being, I must be eternal.

Whoever is born of woman must have to die, but I have just found out that I cannot die. Then if I am eternal, I cannot be the body. Who am I then? I must be merely a dweller inside the body and the time that I dwell here is what we call life. But if I am different from the body, I cannot have the same nature as the body. If I am eternal and the body is perishable, the body and I must be diametrically opposite in nature and what is true of the body cannot be true of me. What is born of the body, can never be born of me; so if desires are born of the body, they cannot be born of me. Then I must be wantless; so I must be the richest man in the whole world, for even an emperor is not free from wants. Go to Indra himself and you will find that he has some desires. Everyone has wants, but I have no want whatever, so I must be the richest man. If I am without want or lack of any kind, I must be perfect. Perfection needs