Reminiscences
Reminiscences of Sargachhi SRIMAT SWAMI SUHITANANDA JI
(Continued from previous issue. . .)
Maharaj: This world is like an exhibition. We go around visiting it. It’s like a game of three sticks – sattva, rajas, and tamas. What a variety of things it has for us to see! We gaze for a long time at whatever is pleasant to us. What is unpleasant is left out. We don’t need to buy anything – we are just witnesses.
There are some people who are rogues by nature. There is rubbish and dirt all over their home. But they have a room set apart as their shrine. And that room is filled with conversations about Sri Ramakrishna and Holy Mother. Even if they are unaware of it, that shrine room is their predominant corner. This is the influence of yogamaya. As soon as the topic of Sri Ramakrishna is broached, a rogue becomes a different man.
I met a man who had met Baburam Maharaj (Swami Premananda, one of the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna) in Dhaka. He talked about many things related to the Mission, like the availability of food. Then he suddenly said, “Your Baburam Maharaj came here once. I went with our teacher and saluted him. He touched my back with his hand. Oh! How cool and soothing was his hand!” This is the influence of yogamaya. How can a hand be cool? Baburam Maharaj had bestowed his grace on him. At the time of death that man will recall this feeling of joy and get liberated. Perhaps these people had not been exposed to education, but they had not committed any evil acts, either.
Mahapurush Maharaj (Swami Shivananda, one of the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna and the second president of the Order) gave sannyasa to the son of a carpenter. People like him were full of kindness. His idea was ‘Let the boy try and see if he can succeed.’ This is grace. But can grace be bestowed on all and sundry? Sri Ramakrishna came. He used to attract anyone in whom he could see a little spark – that is why he went to the house of Ishan. If he was full of grace, why did he not bestow his grace on everybody? The fact of the matter is, the sun has risen in the sky. If the glass is clean, the sun will reflect on it. The glass thinks that the sun out of kindness is giving its light. This “grace” business is like that. ---A novice had an ulcer on his hand. Premeshanandaji Maharaj told him, “A person is considered to be impure if he has a wound or sore on his body and in that condition he is not allowed to worship the deity. Once when Sri Ramakrishna was in samadhi, Nitya Niranjan tried to hold him. Immediately, Sri Ramakrishna was startled out of his samadhi. Nitya Niranjan had a tumour on his head which had been operated on.” Attendant: Why do we find diverse types of people in society? Maharaj: By practising truthfulness, control of the senses, purity, and contentment for a long time, a group of people called brahmanas became highly cultured. Their only
The author, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Ramakrishna Order, presents here his conversations with Swami Premeshananda (1884-1967), a disciple of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi.
17 The Vedanta Kesari
PA G E D O N O R : A D E V O T E E , M I S S I O N R D. , B E N G A LU R U
16.2.1961 (cont’d…)
April 2021
59
