Re: 05-March-2012 (Monday) Reminiscences of The Holy Mother!!!
Last night I read the following in "Holy Mother" by Swami Nikhilananda. It somehows seems appropriate to this posting...
pp. 297-298
" There existed an extraordinary relationship between Sri Ramakrishna and Holy Mother. She often spoke of herself as his handmaid and instrument, as one of the many seekers who found refuge at his feet. When a devotee asked her advice she said: "I do not know anything. I repeat only what I have heard from the Master. Read "The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna" and you will know all you need.' To another who asked her blessing she said: "The Master will bless you." How often she asked her disciples to pray for her so that she might not have a trace of vanity. She repeatedly asked the devotees to cling to Sri Ramakrishna in order to avoid the pitfalls of life. One day a disciple, asked about his welfare, said that through her blessing he was well. "You all make the same mistake,' she rebuked him. "Why do you bring me into everything? Can't you speak of the Master? Don't you see that everything happens by his will?"
Re: 05-March-2012 (Monday) Reminiscences of The Holy Mother!!!
Holy Mother's entire life surrounded the Master...For her, it seems, there was nothing else in the physical world other than Master. How much she loved him and how much she had herself devoted to him can only guessed by reading from her life...where time and again she emphasized the greatness of Master, not just because he was her husband...but she had correctly "understood" who he was... How sweet were her reminiscences about Master in the later age....just quoting a few examples from The Gospel of Holy Mother:
"Ah, what a great singer the Master was! His voice was so sweet. While singing he would be one with his song. His voice is still ringing in my ears. When I remember it, other voices appear so flat." P: 32
"All that is properly written in Sarat's book. M's book also is good. He has recorded the Master's own words. What sweet words! I heard that there is so much material that there could be four or five parts more." P: 38
"I do not know anything, my child. The Master is everything. " P: 51
"The Master is all-He is Prakriti, He is Purusha. Through Him you will achieve everything." P: 69
And the following words are indeed enlightening:
Disciple: Mother, people say that our Master is God Eternal and Absolute; what do you say?
Mother: Yes, he is God Eternal and Absolute to me.
As she had said 'to me', I went on, "It is true that to every woman her husband is God Eternal and Absolute. I am not asking the question in that sense:"
Mother: Yes, he is God Eternal and Absolute to me as my husband, and in a general way as well.
Then I thought that if Sri Ramakrishna were God Eternal, then she, the Holy Mother, must be the Divine Power, the Mother of the Universe. She must be identical with His Divine consort. She and he are like Sita and Rama, Radha and Krishna. I had come to the Holy Mother, cherishing this faith in my heart. I asked her, "If that be the case, then why do I see you preparing bread like an ordinary woman? It is Maya, I suppose, is it not?"
Mother: It is Maya, indeed! Otherwise, why should I fall into such a state? But God loves to sport as a human being. Sri Krishna was born as a cowherd boy and Rama as the child of Dasaratha.
Disciple: Do you ever remember your real nature?
Mother: Yes, I recall it now and then. At that time I say to myself, "What is this that I am doing? What is all this about'?" Then I remember the house, buildings and children (pointing with the palm of her hand to the houses) and forget my real self.
