Turiyananda and Sri Ramakrishna

Days in Dakshineswar

Whatever bad inclinations one has, one will surely improve in holy company. When you go to a perfumery, the fragrance enters the nostrils, whether you want it or not. Yet people are disinclined to associate with saintly persons, and few have the capacity to do so. Sri Ramakrishna would talk and I and the devotee would listen, but their companions would whisper, “Well let’s go. How long are you going to listen?” Of course, the devotees would not be inclined to leave, so the friends said in annoyance, “You stay here. We will wait in the boat.” Sri Ramakrishna would describe this nicely!
Once a singer came to visit Sri Ramakrishna. He sang song after song about Shiva. The Master went into samadhi upon hearing the very first song and remained there for a long time. Seeing him so absorbed, we thought we should ask the singer to stop. Suddenly the Master came to normal level and said to the singer, “Oh, I can’t take it anymore!” Sing songs of the Divine Mother!” As the Master listened to songs about the Mother, his mind returned to the relative flat He later remarked that he had been in a very high state of consciousness.
One day I saw Sri Ramakrishna waving a fan in front of Mother Kali in her temple. He sang:
Awake O Mother!
Long have you slept
In your original residence
In the lotus of the Muladhara.
Awake, O Mother!
Perform your own true function:
Pierce the six centers of the mind
And unite yourself with the great God Shiva
In the yarrow lotus
In the center of the brain.
So, Mother, wipe away my sorrow,
Thou who art the purest consciousness.

The Master once said to Swamiji, “Whenever you start singing, the Mother wakes up and listens to your song.”
Ah, what a wealth of humor we found in Sri Ramakrishna. It was unique. One day Keshab Babu would come to Dakshineswar. Even before the appointed time, Sri Ramakrishna put on a red fringed garment, covered his body with a good chadar and, with his lips crimson red from the betel (nuts), began pacing on the veranda of his room in anticipation of Keshab. Seeing him in that state, Keshab remarked, “Ah, today you have dressed yourself with extraordinary attention. What is the matter?”
“Well, today I have to charm Keshab!” replied the Master with a laugh.
“That’s why all that dressing up and making it beautiful!” At this Keshab began to laugh.
Swamiji was also very humorous. But his humor was nothing compared to that of Sri Ramakrishna, who used to cause deafening laughter.
He would say, “I keep people in the right mood by introducing secular topics every now and then.
Once a Brahmo devotee referred to Keshab Chandra Sen and Pratap Majumdar, in their presence, saying that they were like Gaurenga and Nityananda. Sri Ramakrishna was nearby. Keshab asked him, “What are you then?” Sri Ramakrishna replied immediately: “I am the dust at your feet.” To this Keshab said: “He is never caught napping.”

It was Sri Ramakrishna who taught the Brahmos to properly salute. The idea of the Motherhood of God was also his contribution to the Brahmo Samaj.
The Lord is the protector of the humble—–their friend and helper. But it is very difficult to be humble. Humility does not come as long as there is still some selfishness. Sri Ramakrishna often told of a woman who swept. Her work is the lowest imaginable, but when she puts on an ornament, her vanity knows no bounds.
Every word of the Master was instinctive and carried great power.
He grabbed the hearts of the people, so to speak.
Vedanta, practiced in some parts of India, is rather watered down. ‘I am Brahman,’ they say, and they go on doing all sorts of things as if they do not affect them. According to them, discrimination is not a sign of knowledge.

collected and presented by

Mary Saaleman