SINGA SPEAKS ROAR 19 | SINGAPORE | SATURDAY | 20 August 2016 A PERIODIC NEWSLETTER FROM THE RAMAKRISHNA MISSION, SINGAPORE
An Inspiring Interplay By William Page This is the most complete biography of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi ever written, and a must-read for every devotee. In a prodigious work of scholarship that took almost seven years to complete, Swami Chetanananda has drawn material from a wide variety of sources, including 14 earlier biographies, and has skillfully woven them into a highly readable narrative. If you want to know everything about Holy Mother that is available at this distance in time, this is the book to go to. What can we say about Holy Mother that hasn’t already been said? Given the staggering wealth of information contained in this sumptuously produced volume, this dazed reviewer will focus on only one point. The Divine Interplay Holy Mother’s relationship with Sri Ramakrishna was based on mutual respect, and even worship. She worshipped him as an incarnation of God, and he worshipped her as the Divine Mother incarnate. Their celibate relationship could have set an example for the world, but the world has been slow to emulate it. It was a relationship characterized by mutual give and take, often enlivened by delightful banter:
179 BARTLEY ROAD | SINGAPORE 539784
Sri Sarada Devi and Her Divine Play, by Swami Chetanananda. Published by the Vedanta Society of St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. Hardback. 876 pages, 35 chapters, with 101 photographs, epilogue, five appendices, chronology, glossary, 1331 endnotes, index, and quotes. US$35. Available in India through Advaita Ashrama (www.advaitaashrama.org), in the United States through the Vedanta Society of St. Louis (www.vedantastl.org), and worldwide through the Vedanta Society of Southern California (www.vedanta.org). May be ordered online. This book is available with our Singapore Centre too for sale at S$35/-
PH: +65 6288 9077 | FAX: 6288 5798
singapore@rkmm.org
PERIODIC NEWSLETTER ROAR 19
PAGE TWO
Sri Ramakrishna: “I don’t want to hear people saying that there is an ‘old monk’ in Rasmani’s temple garden.”
decisions went against her mother instinct, she dug in her heels—and prevailed. Once he found out that she was giving Baburam more than his customary four chapattis. He objected, on the grounds that it might interfere with Baburam’s spiritual progress. She retorted, “Why are you so worried because he had two extra chapattis? I shall look after his food. Please don’t make an issue about his food.” (101)
Holy Mother: “Don’t say that. You are not old…. If you live here as an old monk, people will say a ‘wise monk’ lives in Rasmani’s Kali temple.” Sri Ramakrishna: “Pooh! Who is going to call me a wise monk? Anyhow, I can’t bear it if anybody calls me ‘old fellow.’” (93)
Swami Chetanananda
Always he was the master and she was the submissive wife, but there was one issue on which she would not yield. That was the issue of her universal motherhood. He respected that, and gave way whenever she invoked it. Once she let a woman who had led an immoral life bring him his food. He couldn’t touch it, and wanted Holy Mother to promise never to allow the woman to carry his food again. She replied, “Master, I can’t make any such promise, but I shall try to bring your food myself. If someone addresses me as ‘Mother’ and asks to carry the tray, I cannot refuse. You must not forget that you are not only my Lord—you are the Lord of all.” This reply so pleased him that he went ahead and ate the food. (100) Usually he taught her, but sometimes she taught him; and always it was to nudge him in the direction of greater k i n d n e s s . Whenever his
SATURDAY, 20 AUGUST 2016
Her mother’s heart made her give things away, and one day Sri Ramakrishna objected. “How can you successfully run a household if you give away things like this?” he asked. She didn’t argue, but just said, “All right,” and left the room. That made him anxious, and he told his nephew Ramlal, “Go at once and placate your aunt. If she gets angry, then all my spirituality will come to naught.” (102) In all her actions she had a perfectly sensible rationale, which she once explained to Sara Bull. In spiritual matters, she obeyed Sri Ramakrishna absolutely—but in practical matters she used her own common sense. (99) Thus she devised a formula for dealing with the problems of life that all of us can learn from.
Traditional Hinduism has given us the paradigm of Shiva and Shakti, ever interacting to keep the universe going. William Page has been associated with the Modern times have Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of given us a new Massachusetts since 1960 and is a member Shiva and Shakti— and a divine of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Association of interplay to inspire Thailand in Bangkok. us all.
179 BARTLEY ROAD | SINGAPORE 539784
PH: +65 6288 9077 | FAX: 6288 5798
singapore@rkmm.org
PERIODIC NEWSLETTER ROAR 19
179 BARTLEY ROAD | SINGAPORE 539784
PAGE THREE
PH: +65 6288 9077 | FAX: 6288 5798
SATURDAY, 20 AUGUST 2016
singapore@rkmm.org
PERIODIC NEWSLETTER ROAR 19
179 BARTLEY ROAD | SINGAPORE 539784
PAGE FOUR
PH: +65 6288 9077 | FAX: 6288 5798
SATURDAY, 20 AUGUST 2016
singapore@rkmm.org