Birthdays of the Direct Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna "How Sri Ramakrishna taught Them" (During this quarter we observed birthdays of the following direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. These small notes are our humble and devotional tribute to the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. All the pictures in section are the drawings of late Shri Sanatbhai Thakkar of Rajkot, Gujarat, India. All the originals are permanently displayed in Sri Ramakrishna temple at Rajkot. We are thankful to Shri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Rajkot for giving their kind permission to use these photographs.)
Swami Shivananda An incident during the period of Sri Ramakrishna’s final illness is worth recounting. Narendra (later Swami Vivekananda), Tarak (later Swami Shivananda), and Kali (later Swami Abhedananda), were at this time very much engaged in the thought of Buddha and of Brahman without any quality. Impelled by this they went for tapasya (life of austerity and meditation) to Bodh Gaya. They sat in meditation under the Bodhi tree, lost to outer consciousness. Swami Abhedananda later affirmed that he heard from Narendra that the latter saw a light flash out of Buddha’s image and proceed towards Tarak. The Master too seems to have had a similar estimation of Tarak’s core of personality. About this estimation, we have it on the evidence of Swami Turiyananda that one day when Tarak was returning from the Kali temple, the Master remarked, ‘His “home” is that high Power from which proceed name and form.’ Tarak had something of the Transcendental Verity in him. 12
