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Birthdays of the Direct Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna
"How Sri Ramakrishna taught Them"
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(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.
Swami Saradananda Sri Ramakrishna had noticed the spiritual potentiality of the boy Sarat (later Swami Saradananda) at the very first sight and began to give directions and to watch his spiritual development. One day the Master was seated in his room at Dakshineswar surrounded by a group of devotees. Ganesha, the Hindu god of success, was the topic of conversation. The Master highly praised the integrity of character of this deity, his utter absence of passion and singleminded devotion to his mother, the goddess Durga. Young Sharat was present. Suddenly he said, ‘Well, sir, I like the character of Ganesha very much. He is my ideal.’ The Master at once corrected him saying, ‘No, Ganesha is not your ideal. Your ideal is Shiva. You possess Shiva attributes.’ Then he added, ‘Always think of yourself as Shiva and of me as Shakti. I am the ultimate repository of all your powers.’
Swami Turiyananda Harinath (later Swami Turiyananda) was a deep student of Vedanta and tried to mould his life according to its teachings. Once he happened to keep away from Dakshineswar for a longer time than usual. When he came next, the Master told Harinath, ‘They say you are studying and meditating on Vedanta nowadays. It is good. But what does the Vedanta philosophy teach? “Brahman alone is real and everything else is unreal” isn’t that its
substance, or is there anything more? Then why don’t you give up the unreal and cling to the Real?’ These words pinpointed the main theme of Vedanta in such a clear way that they turned the thoughts of Harinath in a new fruitful direction.
Shanti Ashrama started by Swami Turiyananda in California, USA
Swami Vivekananda One day in November 1881, Narendra (later Swami Vivekananda) went to meet Sri Ramakrishna who was staying at the Kali Temple in Dakshineshwar. He straightaway asked the Master a question which he had put to several others but had received no satisfactory answer: “Sir, have you seen God?” Without a moment’s hesitation, Sri Ramakrishna replied: “Yes, I have. I see Him as clearly as I see you, only in a much more intense sense.” Apart from removing doubts from the mind of Narendra, Sri Ramakrishna won him over through his pure, unselfish love. Thus, began a guru-disciple relationship which is quite unique in the history of spiritual masters. Narendra now became a frequent visitor to Dakshineshwar and, under the guidance of the Master, made rapid strides on the spiritual path.
Dakshineswar Kali temple, the place of austerity and spirituality
Swami Brahmananda Ramakrishna was a hard task master. He always insisted that his disciples unite their mind and speech. One day when Rakhal returned from Calcutta, the master asked: “Why can’t I look at you? Have you done anything wrong?” “No,” Rakhal replied. The master again asked, “Did you tell any lies?’ then Rakhal remembered that the day before, while chatting and joking with two friends, he had told a fib. The master told him: “Never do it again, Truthfulness alone is the spiritual discipline of this age (Kaliyuga).
Shikra Kulingram, the birthplace of Swami Brahmananda
Swami Trigunatitananda Saradaprasanna (later Swami Trigunatitananda) had amazing control over his mind and body. Once while in Calcutta Swami Trigunatitananda developed fistula, which needed surgery. Dr. Matilal Mukherjee of Baranagore informed the Swami that since the operation would take some time and would be painful, he would use chloroform to put him to sleep. Trigunatitananda told the doctor to do the surgery without chloroform and that he would endure the pain. The surgeon was amazed but agreed to perform the surgery as he requested. The doctor spent half an hour to remove fistula, cutting nearly six inches. The surgeon and nurses did not see any change in Trigunatitanandaji’s face – he was as calm as if he were in deep meditation.
The first Hindu temple in the west conceived, constructed and dedicated by Swami Trigunatitananda in San Francisco, California
Swami Adbhutananda One day Latu (later Swami Adbhutananda) was meditating sitting on the bank of the Ganga. Then there came the floodtide, and waters surrounded Latu. But he was unconscious of the external world. The news reached Sri Ramakrishna, who at once came and brought back his consciousness by loudly calling him. Another day Latu went to meditate in one of the Shiva temples just after noon. But it was almost evening, and still there was no news of Latu. The Master was anxious about him and sent someone to search for him. It was found that Latu was deeply absorbed in meditation and his whole body was wet with perspiration. On hearing this, Sri Ramakrishna came to the temple and began to fan him. After some time Latu returned to the plane of consciousness and felt greatly embarrassed at seeing the Master fanning him. Sri Ramakrishna, however, removed his embarrassment by his sweet and affectionate words.’
