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LAST DAYS AT COSSIPORE
When Sri Ramakrishna's illness showed signs of aggravation, the devotees,
following the advice of Dr. Sarkar, rented a spacious garden house at Cossipore,
in the northern suburbs of Calcutta. The Master was removed to this place
on December 11, 1885.
It was at Cossipore that the curtain fell on the varied activities of the
Master's life on the physical plane. His soul lingered in the body eight
months more. It was the period of his great Passion, a constant crucifixion of
the body and the triumphant revelation of the Soul. Here one sees the
humanity and divinity of the Master passing and repassing across a thin
border line. Every minute of those eight months was suffused with touching
tenderness of heart and breath-taking elevation of spirit. Every word he
uttered was full of pathos and sublimity.
It took the group only a few days to become adjusted to the new environment.
The Holy Mother, assisted by Sri Ramakrishna's niece, Lakshmi Devi,
and a few woman devotees, took charge of the cooking for the Master and
his attendants. Surendra willingly bore the major portion of the expenses,
other householders contributing according to their means. Twelve disciples
were constant attendants of the Master: Narendra, Rakhal, Baburam,
Niranjan, Jogin, Latu, Tarak, the-elder Gopal, Kali, Sashi, Sarat, and the
younger Gopal. Sarada, Harish, Hari, Gangadhar, and Tulasi visited the
Master from time to time and practised sadhana at home. Narendra, preparing
for his law examination, brought his books to the garden house in
order to continue his studies during the infrequent spare moments. He
encouraged his brother disciples to intensify their meditation, scriptural
studies, and other spiritual disciplines. They all forgot their relatives and
their worldly duties.
Among the attendants Sashi was the embodiment of service. He did not
practise meditation, japa, or any of the other disciplines followed by his
brother devotees. He was convinced that service to the guru was the only
religion for him. He forgot food and rest and was ever ready at the Master's
bedside.
Pundit Shashadhar one day suggested to the Master that the latter could
remove the illness by concentrating his mind on the throat, the scriptures
having declared that yogis had power to cure themselves in that way. The
Master rebuked the pundit. "For a scholar like you to make such a proposal!"
he said. "How can I withdraw the mind from the Lotus Feet of God and
turn it to this worthless cage of flesh and blood?" "For our sake at least",
begged Narendra and the other disciples. "But", replied Sri Ramakrishna,
do you think I enjoy this suffering? I wish to recover, but that depends on
the Mother."
NARENDRA: "Then please pray to Her. She must listen to you."
MASTER: "But I cannot pray for my body."
NARENDRA: "You must do it, for our sake at least."
MASTER: "Very well, I shall try."
A few hours later the Master said to Narendra: "I said to Her: 'Mother,
I cannot swallow food because of my pain. Make it possible for me to eat a
little.' She pointed you all out to me and said: 'What? You are eating
enough through all these mouths. Isn't that so?' I was ashamed and could not
utter another word." This dashed all the hopes of the devotees for the
Master's recovery.
"I shall make the whole thing public before I go", the Master had said
some time before. On January 1, 1886, he felt better and came down to the
garden for a little stroll. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon. Some
thirty lay disciples were in the hall or sitting about under the trees. Sri
Ramakrishna said to Girish, "Well, Girish, what have you seen in me, that
you proclaim me before everybody as an Incarnation of God?" Girish was
not the man to be taken by surprise. He knelt before the Master and said,
with folded hands, "What can an insignificant person like myself say about
the One whose glory even sages like Vyasa and Valmiki could not adequately
measure?" The Master was profoundly moved. He said: "What more shall
I say? I bless you all. Be illumined!" He fell into a spiritual mood. Hearing
these words the devotees, one and all, became overwhelmed with emotion.
They rushed to him and fell at his feet. He touched them all, and each
received an appropriate benediction. Each of them, at the touch of the
Master, experienced ineffable bliss. Some laughed, some wept, some sat down
to meditate, some began to pray. Some saw light, some had visions of their
Chosen Ideals, and some felt within their bodies the rush of spiritual power.
Narendra, consumed with a terrific fever for realization, complained to
the Master that all the others had attained peace and that he alone was
dissatisfied. The Master asked what he wanted. Narendra begged for samadhi,
so that he might altogether forget the world for three or four days at a time.
"You are a fool", the Master rebuked him. "There is a state even higher than
that. Isn't it you who sing, 'All that exists art Thou'? First of all settle your
family affairs and then come to me. You will experience a state even higher
than samadhi."
The Master did not hide the fact that he wished to make Narendra his
spiritual heir. Narendra was to continue the work after Sri Ramakrishna's
passing. Sri Ramakrishna said to him: "I leave these young men in your
charge. See that they develop their spirituality and do not return home."
One day he asked the boys, in preparation for a monastic life, to beg their
food from door to door without thought of caste. They hailed the Master's
order and went out with begging-bowls. A few days later he gave the ochre
cloth of the sannyasi to each of them, including Girish, who was now second
to none in his spirit of renunciation. Thus the Master himself laid the
foundation of the future Ramakrishna Order of monks.
Sri Ramakrishna was sinking day by day. His diet was reduced to a minimum
and he found it almost impossible to swallow. He whispered to M.:
"I am bearing all this cheerfully, for otherwise you would be weeping. If
you all say that it is better that the body should go rather than suffer this
torture, I am willing." The next morning he said to his depressed disciples
seated near the bed: "Do you know what I see? I see that God alone has
become everything. Men and animals are only frameworks covered with
skin, and it is He who is moving through their heads and limbs. I see that
it is God Himself who has become the block, the executioner, and the victim
for the sacrifice.' He fainted with emotion. Regaining partial consciousness,
he said: "Now I have no pain. I am very well." Looking at Latu he said:
"There sits Latu resting his head on the palm of his hand. To me it is the
Lord who is seated in that posture."
The words were tender and touching. Like a mother he caressed Narendra
and Rakhal, gently stroking their faces. He said in a half whisper to M.,
"Had this body been allowed to last a little longer, many more souls would
have been illumined." He paused a moment and then said: "But Mother
has ordained otherwise. She will take me away lest, finding me guileless and
foolish, people should take advantage of me and persuade me to bestow on
them the rare gifts of spirituality." A few minutes later he touched his chest
and said: "Here are two beings. One is She and the other is Her devotee.
It is the latter who broke his arm, and it is he again who is now ill. Do vou
understand me?" After a pause he added: "Alas! To whom shall I tell all
this? Who will understand me?" "Pain", he consoled them again, 'is
unavoidable as long as there is a body. The Lord takes on the body for the
sake of His devotees."
Yet one is not sure whether the Master's soul actually was tortured by this
agonizing disease. At least during his moments of spiritual exaltation — which
became almost constant during the closing days of his life on earth — he lost
all consciousness of the body, of illness and suffering. One of his attendants
(Latu, later known as Swami Adbhutananda.)
said later on: "While Sri Ramakrishna lay sick he never actually suffered
pain. He would often say: 'O mind! Forget the body, forget the sickness,
and remain merged in Bliss.' No, he did not really suffer. At times he would
be in a state when the thrill of joy was clearly manifested in his body. Even
when he could not speak he would let us know in some way that there was
no suffering, and this fact was clearly evident to all who watched him.
People who did not understand him thought that his suffering was very
great. What spiritual joy he transmitted to us at that time! Could such a
thing have been possible if he had 'been suffering physically? It was during
this period that he taught us again these truths: 'Brahman is always unattached.
The three gunas are in It, but It is unaffected by them, just as the
wind carries odour yet remains odourless.' 'Brahman is Infinite Being,
Infinite Wisdom, Infinite Bliss. In It there exist no delusion, no misery, no
disease, no death, no growth, no decay.' 'The Transcendental Being and
the being within are one and the same. There is one indivisible Absolute
Existence.'"
The Holy Mother secretly went to a Siva temple across the Ganges to
intercede with the Deity for the Master's recovery. In a revelation she was
told to prepare herself for the inevitable end.
One day when Narendra was on the ground floor, meditating, the Master
was lying awake in his bed upstairs. In the depths of his meditation Narendra
felt as though a lamp were burning at the back of his head. Suddenly he
lost consciousness. It was the yearned-for, all-effacing experience of nirvikalpa
samadhi, when the embodied soul realizes its unity with the Absolute. After
a very long time he regained partial consciousness but was unable to find
his body. He could see only his head. "Where is my body?" he cried. The
elder Gopal entered the room and said, "Why, it is here, Naren!" But
Narendra could not find it. Gopal, frightened, ran upstairs to the Master.
Sri Ramakrishna only said: "Let him stay that way for a time. He has worried
me long enough."
After another long period Narendra regained full consciousness. Bathed
in peace, he went to the Master, who said: "Now the Mother has shown
you everything. But this revelation will remain under lock and key, and I
shall keep the key. When you have accomplished the Mother's work you
will find the treasure again."
Some days later, Narendra being alone with the Master, Sri Ramakrishna
looked at him and went into samadhi. Narendra felt the penetration of a
subtle force and lost all outer consciousness. Regaining presently the normal
mood, he found the Master weeping.
Sri Ramakrishna said to him: "Today I have given you my all and I am
now only a poor fakir, possessing nothing. By this power you will do immense
good in the world, and not until it is accomplished will you return."
Henceforth the Master lived in the disciple.
Doubt, however, dies hard. After one or two days Narendra said to himself,
"If in the midst of this racking physical pain he declares his Godhead,
then only shall I accept him as an Incarnation of God." He was alone by
the bedside of the Master. It was a passing thought, but the Master smiled.
Gathering his remaining strength, he distinctly said, "He who was Rama
and Krishna is now, in this body, Ramakrishna — but not in your Vedantic
sense." Narendra was stricken with shame.