Holy Mother By Swami Nikhilananda: 042 Tuesday 16-02-2016
Marriage and After – 07
During Sri Ramakrishna’s absence at Dakshineswar, Sarada visited Kamarpukur twice. There she lived with her brother-in-law,1 (1 Rameswar, the second brother of Sri Ramakrishna; the eldest brother Ramkumar, had died several years before.) sister-in-law, and other relatives. Her mother-in-law was then living at Dakshineswar with Sri Ramakrishna. At Kamarpukur, Sarada learned to cook and sing, and to swim a little with the help of an inverted jar.
About this time she wanted to improve her education and started to read a Bengali primer with her niece Lakshmi.2 (2 The daughter of Rameswar) But Hriday snatched the book away with the remark: ‘Girls should not be educated. If you learn to read you will soon be reading novels and plays. This is not proper.’ But Lakshmi, a member of the family, asserted her right and clung to her book. Sarada, too, secretly bought a book for a few pennies and took lessons from Lakshmi when she returned home from school. But, as we shall see later, Sarada resumed her study seriously many years after at Dakshineswar.
During one of the visits to Kamarpukur, Sarada had a strange experience, which she afterwards described to her devotees: ‘I was then thirteen years ole, a young daughter-in-law in the family, and would be frightened to walk alone to the village tank to bathe. One day I came out of the house by a back door and was worrying about the matter when there appeared, apparently from nowhere, eight young maidens. As I started for the tank, four of them walked in front of me and four behind. Thus guarded I walked to the water and all of us bathed together. Afterwards they brought me home.’1 (1 According to Hindu mythology, the Divine Mother of the Universe has eight maidens as attendants.) This continued as long as Sarada lived at Kamarpukur during that visit. She could not unravel the mystery nor did she ask the girls who they were.
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Holy Mother - Being the Life of Sri Sarada Devi Wife of Sri Ramakrishna And Helpmate in his Mission By Swami Nikhilananda p: 29 – 30
