Girish Chandra Ghosh had seen the Divine Mother in a Vision
This amazing story tells us how Mother Sri Sarada not only saved Girish Ghosh, but also Bengali Theatre and all that is associated with art.
Girish Chandra Ghosh, the renowned dramatist, was among the staunchest of Sri Ramakrishna’s householder devotees. But like many others among them, he did not at first think very highly of Holy Mother’s spiritual greatness. Years after Sri Ramakrishna’s passing away, he went on a visit to Jayrambati along with some of the monastic disciples of the Master, Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother would cover herself completely, from head to foot, when she had to be present before people to bless them. In her own village, Jairambati, she would be slightly relaxed. She would occasionally keep her face uncovered.
Girish Ghosh came to Jayrambati. That was the first occasion when Girish was taken to the Holy Mother’s presence. After prostrating himself before her, he looked at her once, and immediately withdrew from there and sat in the other house in a very serious and introspective mood. His companions were astonished at this transformation of Girish. At last Swami Niranjanananda approached him and asked him the reason of it. Girish thereupon wanted him to inquire of Mother whether she was the person who had appeared to him in dream in his nineteenth year. In reply Holy Mother sent him the information that it was she.
Then Girish gave out the story to his fellow-disciples. At the age of nineteen he was suffering from a severe illness. The doctors had given him up for lost. In that condition he dreamt one night that the whole sky was lit with a celestial effulgence. It gradually proceeded towards him and assumed the form of a supremely brilliant Divine Devi. Girish, it must be remembered, was in those days a rank atheist. The Goddess approached him and said, “Well, my child, you sure suffering terribly. aren’t you ?” Then she put something into his mouth, resembling the consecrated food of the Puri temple, and vanished. After that Girish recovered from his illness.
One significant point of spiritual dreams is that the soul can never forget it. Girish Chandra Ghosh had often tried to make out who that glowing figure might have been, but could get no definite clue. So he had surmised that it must have been the figure of his mother whom he had lost in his early childhood. However, the day on which he saw Holy Mother, he was surprised to notice the complete likeness of that Goddess in her. Thenceforth he looked upon the Holy Mother with great reverence and used to say that through the grace of Niran-jan (Swami Niranjanananda) he had recovered his Mother.
Girish Chandra received Mother’s blessings several times in his later life.
Mother never forced the ideal of Sri Ramakrishna on any one. But she seems to have held the view that in the case of those who took initiation from her, spiritual advancement would be accelerated if they accepted the true spiritual identity of Sri Ramakrishna. Once an old man went to the Holy Mother with the notion that Sri Ramakrishna was a saintly person, and that the Holy Mother, being his spiritual consort, would have some of his powers. He had no idea about Sri Ramakrishna’s being a divine incarnation. When he was brought in for initiation, the Holy Mother at once understood his mentality and called out to Yogin-Ma, “O Yogin, this man does not accept the Master. What am I to do?” Yogin-Ma said in reply, “Please initiate him. The Mantra you give will never be fruitless.”
He was given initiation, and it was noticed that through her grace he became a great devotee of Sri Ramakrishna in a short time. Her attitude in this respect may be explained this way. The spiritual progress of those whom she initiated was guided not merely by their effort but also by the connection they established with Sri Ramakrishna through her. The great austerities performed by the Master were not for his own sake but for the good of the world at large. For it is not within the power of ordinary human beings, with their many weaknesses and limitations, to strive independently and escape from the hands of Maya. They require the help of a redeeming power to supplement their little strength. In the spiritual energy generated by Sri Ramakrishna’s austerities lies that reserve of power which aspirants can make use of for their upliftment. But it is only by accepting him wholeheartedly that they can get in touch with the spiritual energy accumulated by him. Otherwise they would be excluding themselves from it.