SRI SARADA DEVI DARSHAN : 03/01/2014

29 March 2014

TEACHINGS OF SRI SARADA DEVI

CHAPTER-VI:THE IDEAL OF RENUNCIATION -PART-II

1. "You are a living god. Who is able to renounce all for God's sake? Even the injunctions of Destiny are cancelled if one takes refuge in God. Destiny strikes off with her own hand what she has written about such a person."

2. "Will a man who has strong desires for worldly pleasures listen to me if I ask him to renounce them? But if a fortunate soul has realized the world to be the sport of Maya and God alone to be real, shall I not help him a little? Is there any end to the suffering in the world?"

3. "Don't marry, don't enter the world. What do you lose if you don't marry? You are free wherever you may be."

4. "An unmarried person who leads a pure life will advance towards Him with rapid strides, whether he prays to Him or not. The others, being tied hand and foot, find it difficult to extricate themselves from the bondage of worldliness, even though they try to think of God."

5. "What is there in the worldly life? What an inordinate attachment people have for it. See how out of one so many come out, and how one's attention and energies are all dissipated. Is it possible for a person placed under such conditions to attain to spiritual greatness? Have you not seen crabs? The mother crab peeps out of her hole again and again, and then goes down. It struggles hard repeatedly to free itself, but fails. And why? Because of her attraction for her numerous progeny living in the hole. This attraction drags her into the hole in spite of all her efforts. Such is the case of those who are immersed in worldly life."

6. The mother of a monk requested Holy Mother to ask her son to go back to worldly life. Mother replied, "It is a rare good fortune to be the mother of a monk. People cannot give up attachment even to a brass pot. Is it an easy thing to renounce the world? Why should you worry?"

7. About a boy who wanted to embrace monastic life and was being encouraged by Swami Shivananda to do so, Mother said, "One needs good fortune, indeed, to accept the ideal of renunciation taught by the Master. Tarak (Swami Shivananda) is right. How few can be rescued from the world once they are entangled in it! The boy has real strength of mind."

8. A woman devotee requested Holy Mother to order her daughter to marry. Mother replied, "Is it not misery to remain in lifelong slavery to another and always dance to his tune? Though there is some risk in being a celibate, still, if one is not inclined to lead a married life, one should not be forced into it and subjected to lifelong worldliness. Those girls that are drawn to the ideal of complete renunciation should be encouraged to lead a celibate life."

9. When someone criticized Holy Mother for giving a disciple the ochre robe, she replied, "Look here, child, they are children of light. They live on this earth as pure as flowers. Can you tell me anything happier than this? You have seen for yourself what kind of happiness worldly life can give. What have you learned from me all these days! Why so much attraction for worldly life? Why so much animal propensity? What sort of happiness do you derive from it? Can you not even conceive in dream a pure ideal of life? Can't you live with your husband even now as brother and sister? Why this desire to lead a piggish life? This misery of the world has been gnawing into my bones."

10. "He has done very well to become a Sadhu. What is there in this cage of flesh and bones? ... What is after all in this body? Why should one become enmeshed in this Maya? It will ultimately come to an end after a few days. Then when it is burnt, there will remain only a seer and a half of ash. Banku has become a Sannyasin, he has taken to the path of God. He has done well, he has done well indeed!"

SOURCE: saradadevi.info/THM

26 March 2014

LIFE OF SRI SARADA DEVI

10. THE MASTER'S DEMISE AND AFTER (PART-II)

In spite of the best medical aid and the careful nursing by his young disciples and the Holy Mother, the Master's illness showed no signs of improvement. When all treatment had failed, the Holy Mother decided to invoke divine aid. She went to the temple of Siva at Tarakeswar and lay before the Deity for two days without food and drink, supplicating for some divine remedy for the Master's illness. 'During the night of the second day,' she said, referring to this incident, 'I was startled to hear a sound. It was as if someone was breaking a pile of earthen pots with one blow. I woke from my torpor and the idea flashed in my mind. "Who is husband and who is wife? Who is my relative in this world? Why am I about to kill myself?" All my attachment for the Master disappeared. My mind was filled with utter renunciation. I groped through darkness and sprinkled my face with holy water from the pit at the back of the temple. I also drank a little water as my throat was parched with thirst. I felt refreshed. The next morning I came to the Cossipore garden. No sooner had the Master seen me than he asked, "Well, did you get anything? Well, everything is unreal. Isn't it?" 'At about the same time,' she said, 'the Master saw in a dream that an elephant had gone out to bring medicine for him. The animal was digging the earth to procure it, when he woke up. The Master asked me whether I had seen any such dream. I had seen in a dream that the neck of the image of Mother Kali was bent to one side. I asked Her, "Mother, why do you stand like that?" And the Deity replied, "It is because of this (pointing to the cancer in the throat of the Master). I also have it in my throat"'

Such experiences must have gradually prepared her mind for the coming end. To confirm this impression, as it were, the Master one day called the Holy Mother to his side and said: 'I do not know why the thoughts of Brahman are stirring my mind.' It was a hint that his consciousness was getting identified with Brahman. He took final leave of her on the 15th of August, when the Mother was standing by his emaciated body with her niece Lakshmi. All had thought that the power of speech had left him, but he whispered to the Mother: 'Look here! It seems I am going somewhere - all through water to a far-off place. You need have no anxiety. You will be just as you have been so long. Naren and others will look after you and do for you as much as they have done for me. Do have an eye on dear Lakshmi.'

The Master left his mortal body in the early hours of Monday, the 16th August, 1886, creating in the minds of the Holy Mother and the devotees a void that could never be filled by anything else on earth. But men never die in an absolute sense, much less great souls of the type of the Master. This was borne out by the following incident. After his cremation, the Holy Mother was removing her ornaments, as a Hindu widow does on her husband's death. When she was about to put off her bracelets, she had a vision of Sri Ramakrishna appearing before her (Note: Such experiences were repeated in her life as we shall see later on) and saying to this effect: 'What are you doing? I have not gone away. I have only passed from one room to another.' A vision of this kind must have been very reassuring to her grief-stricken heart.

Shortly after, Balaram Babu purchased a white cloth without borders, the widow's garment, for the Holy Mother, and requested Golap-Ma to hand it over to her. Golap-Ma, thinking of the sudden reaction it may have on the Holy Mother, remarked, 'O my God! Who can give this white borderless cloth to her now?' But when she went to the Holy Mother with the cloth, she found that she had already torn off the greater part of the wide red borders of her Sari. From that time onward she always used to wear a cloth with thin borders in recognition of the Master's assurance that there was no death for him and therefore no widowhood for her.

Several of the householder devotees of the Master wanted to break up the establishment at Cossipore garden immediately after the Master's passing away. But Narendra Nath (later Swami Vivekananda) and other young disciples protested against this, as it would be a great shock to the Holy Mother to be asked to leave that place so soon. They wanted that she should be allowed to stay there for a few days more, and even offered to beg food for her, if necessary. So the establishment was retained for some days and the Master's earthly relics were worshipped in that house with food offerings. On the 21st of August, the Holy Mother and Lakshmi Didi, the Master's niece, were conducted to the house of Balaram Bose. Along with them was also brought the urn containing the major part of the Master's relics. For, a dispute had in the meantime arisen regarding its disposal between some of the householder devotees headed by Ramachandra Datta and the young Sannyasin disciples. The Sannyasins wanted the relics to be in their possession, but the other party desired to install them permanently in a garden belonging to Ramachandra Datta. It was finally, decided to hand over the pitcher containing the relics to Ramachandra, but the Sannyasins in the meantime had taken away the main portion and put it in the urn referred to above. When the Holy Mother heard of this dispute, she remarked to Golap-Ma, 'Such a unique personality has passed away. But, see, dear Golap, how they are quarreling over his ashes!'

SOURCE:saradadevi.info/SHM

25 March 2014

* * * * * * * * * * TODAY DARSHAN OF SRI SARADA DEVI AT RAJKOT (GUJARAT) * * * * * * * * * * *

MAY SRI SARADA DEVI BLESS YOU

DARSHAN OF SRI SARADA DEVI AT RAJKOT, GUJARAT ON 25.3.14

A HUMBLE OFFERING

THE HOLY MOTHER SRI SARADA DEVI

23 March 2014

GOSPEL OF SRI SARADA DEVI

SECTION I (by Sarayubala Devi); 23rd August 1918 (CONTINUED)

The topic of conversation now turned to Jayrambati.

Mother: At one time a terrible famine devastated Jayrambati. (NOTE: In the year 1864. The Holy Mother was eleven years old then). People without number would come to our house for food. We had a store of rice from the previous year's produce. My father made Khichuri, cooking that rice and pulse together. The Khichuri used to be kept in a number of pots. All the members of the family would take only that Khichuri. The starving people would also eat the same. My father, would however, say, "A little plain rice of good variety shall be cooked for my daughter Sarada (the Holy Mother). She will eat that." Sometimes the starving people would come in such large numbers that the food would not be sufficient for them. Then new Khichuri would be cooked, and when the hot stuff was poured in large earthen pots, I would fan and make it cool. People with hungry stomachs would be waiting for it. One day a low class girl came there. She had shaggy hair and blood-shot eyes like those of a lunatic. She saw the rice polishings soaking in a tub for the cattle and at once started eating it. We said to her, "There is Khichuri inside the house, go and eat it". But she was too impatient to wait. Is it a joke to bear the agony of an empty stomach? As soon as one takes a body, one takes on hunger and thirst also. This time at home when I was ill, one night I was so hungry! Sarala and all others were sleeping. Ah! They had toiled so long and slept. Could I wake them again? Never. So, lying down I felt all around. There was some parched rice in a dish and a few biscuits near the pillow. I was immensely happy. I ate that and drank water which was nearby in a pot. I was so hungry that I was not at all aware of what I ate.

Saying this she began to laugh and continued, "I had high fever that time. What severe illness did I have at Koalpara! I was unconscious, calls of nature had to be answered in bed only. That time Sarala and others served me in a spirit of dedication. (In a weeping voice) So I wonder if I have to suffer like that again! That time I was cured by Dr. Kanjilal's medicine. Oh! What a burning sensation all over the body! Sarat also came to serve me."

A little later I asked her, "Mother, why did you write to us from Jayrambati not to mix with that lady devotee?" "Her path is different," she replied, "She is not of this (The Master's) path."

Next day when I went to the Holy Mother, she was sitting in the verandah telling her beads. The Mother welcomed me, finished her Japa and touching the rosary to her forehead, put it away. At that time the area in front of Mother's house was vacant. Some labourers were living in huts towards the west of it. Referring to them she said, "They have laboured the whole day and are now sitting free from worry. The poor are indeed blessed." The words of Christ in the Bible occurred to me. Today I heard the same words from the Holy Mother also. A little later we came back to the room. The Mother laid herself down on her bed. Earlier in the morning, I had sent her some powder for her prickly heat. The Mother said, "I applied the powder you sent. The prickles are much less now. In this place it is more. Please apply there. Itching also is much reduced. Sarat also is suffering from severe prickly heat. Ah! If only some one would apply the powder on him also!" I said, "Oh, no, who will dare tell him of this matter? These things are used by fashionable people!" Hearing this the Holy Mother began to laugh.

The rheumatism in the Mother's knee had increased. Yesterday a devotee's two children had given her electric treatment, which benefited her. They came today too. The younger aunt said, "My rheumatism also has increased from yesterday. I also will apply the battery." The Holy Mother heard it and said laughing, "Give it to her by all means." The two mischievous fellows quickly arranged their instruments and touched her feet with the wires. And what a shout it brought from the younger aunt! "Oh God, I am dead," she exclaimed, "My whole body is in jitters. Let me go, let me go." Everybody laughed hearing her cries.

Another day I had been to the Holy Mother's place, when a monk came and prostrated before her. He said, "Mother, why does the mind become so restless every now and then? Why can't I constantly meditate on you? Many worthless thoughts disturb my mind. Useless things we can easily obtain if we simply want them. Shall I never realize the Lord? Mother, please tell me how I can attain peace. Nowadays seldom have I visions. What is the use of this life if I cannot realize. Him? It is better to die than to lead such a worthless life."

Mother: What are you talking of, my child? Do not even think of such things. Can one have the vision of God every day? Sri Ramakrishna used to say, "Does an angler catch a big carp every day the moment he sits with his rod? Arranging everything about him, he sits with the rod and concentrates. Once in a while a big carp swallows the hook. Many a time he is disappointed. Don't relax the practices for that reason. Do more Japa.

Yogin-Ma: Yes, that is true. The Name is identical with Brahman. Even if the mind be not concentrated at the outset, you will succeed ultimately.

Monk: Please tell me, Mother, how many times I should repeat the Name. That may help me to get concentration.

Mother: Ten thousand times, or even twenty thousand times or as many times as you can.

Monk: One day, Mother, I was kneeling in the shrine and weeping, when I suddenly saw you standing by my side. You said to me; "What do you want?" "I want your grace, Mother," I replied, "as you bestowed it on king Suratha." (The reference is to the story contained in the Devimahatmya, a great devotional text of the Mother cult, in which a king named Suratha and a merchant named Samadhi, both exiles from home and country worship the Divine Mother and receive Her grace). Then I added, "No, Mother, that was done by, you as Durga. I do not care for that form. I want to see you as you are at present." With a smile you disappeared. My mind became all the more restless. Now nothing satisfies me. Often I think, "If I cannot realize Her, then what is the use of this life?"

Mother: Why are you so restless, my child? Why don't you stick on to what you have got? Always remember, " I have at least a Mother, if none else." Do you remember those words of Sri Ramakrishna? He said he would reveal himself to all that take shelter under him, reveal himself at least on their last day. He will draw all unto Him.

Monk: I have been staying with a householder who is a great devotee. His wife comes from a very aristocratic family. She spends much money for me.

Mother: Ask her not to spend much money for you. The money of the devoted householders is for the benefit of the monks. Their money enables the monks to stay at a place for four months together during the rainy season. It is very inconvenient for the monks to go out (at that time) for begging.

The monk prostrated himself before the Mother and left the room.

COURTESY:saradadevi.info/GHM

20 March 2014

TEACHINGS OF SRI SARADA DEVI

CHAPTER-V: SELF-EFFORT AND DIVINE GRACE; PART-IV

31. "My child, this world is like a deep marshy place. Once a man gets entangled there, it becomes very difficult for him to come out. ... Repeat the Name of God. If you do so, He will cut away your bondage some day. Can anyone get liberation, my child, unless He Himself removes the shackles? Have deep faith in God. Look upon the Master as your refuge, even as children regard their parents."

32. "You may say that you have done so much of Japa or so much of work; but nothing will avail. Nobody can achieve anything unless Mahamaya clears the way. Oh, my children, take refuge, just take refuge. Then alone she will clear the way out of her mercy. ... Once in summer at Kamarpukur, a heavy shower had filled up the fields, and water overflowed from the ponds. The Master was wading through water when proceeding by the side of the sweeper colony. As the cat-fish came out of the ponds, the people around began to beat and catch them. One of the fish kept swimming near about the Master's feet. So he said, 'Don't you kill this one. See how it seeks my protection and plays round. It will be so good if one of you carries it to the Haldar's pond.' Then he himself took it up and released it in the pond. Returning home he said, 'Ah, if anyone seeks protection in this way, one is saved.' "

33. "Repeat the Name of God in the innermost core of your heart, and in all sincerity take refuge in the Master. Do not bother to know how your mind is reacting to things around. And do not waste time in calculating and worrying whether or not you are progressing in the path of spirituality. It is Ahamkara to judge progress for oneself. Have faith in the grace of your Guru and Ishta."

34. Disciple: "There are devotees who surrender themselves to God but do not practise austerities. Will they attain to this state (of realization)?"

Mother: "That they surrender themselves to God, that they live placing implicit trust in Him, is their spiritual discipline. Naren said, 'Let me have millions of births, what do I fear?' It is true. Does a man of knowledge ever fear rebirth? He does not commit any sin. It is the ignorant person who is always seized with fear. He alone gets entangled. He becomes polluted by sin. For millions of births he suffers from endless miseries, he undergoes infinite pains, and at last he craves for God. ... The calf makes the sound of 'Ham Hai, Ham Hai' (I am, I am). He makes the same sound even after drums and other instruments are made from his hide and entrails. At last he goes into the hand of a carder and then he makes the sound 'Tum Hai, Tum Hai' (It is Thou, It is Thou)."

35. "People suffer endless miseries on account of their egoism and at last they say, 'Not I, not I; it is Thou, O God! It is Thou!' " 36. Devotee: "Man cannot do anything by his individual effort. God is doing everything through him."

Mother: "Yes, that is true. But is one conscious of this always? Blinded by egoism, people think themselves to be independent agents in regard to action. They do not depend on God. He protects one who relies on Him."

37. "As you pray and meditate you will find the Master actually speaking to you, fulfilling all your desires immediately, and your mind will be filled with such deep peace. … You will realize that He who is in me, is in you too and in the humblest of men—only then humility will be born in your mind."

38. "My child, if you can get perfect knowledge through my blessings, then I bless you with all my heart and soul. Is it ever possible for a man to free himself unaided from the clutches of Maya? It was for this that the Master performed spiritual austerities to the utmost extent and gave the results thereof for the redemption of mankind."

39. "The Master used to say, 'The way is extremely difficult, like the sharp edge of a razor.' But He has kept you in His arms. He is looking after you."

40. "Just surrender yourself to Him; you will then feel His grace."

SOURCE: saradadevi.info/GHM_book

17 March 2014

GLORY AND POWER OF THE HOLY MOTHER

With regret inform you that 'Sri Sarada Devi Darshan at Belur Math' may not appear upto 14th April 2014.

SWAMI YOGANANDA ON THE HOLY MOTHER

(Swami Swami Yogananda is one of the direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna)

Swami Yogananda

We of little faith and limited understanding can hardly appreciate the grace and blessings of the Master that have descended on us in disguise, in spite of the sorrow of separation. We saw how the Holy Mother, even in the midst of her intense grief at the demise of the Master, fully realized his divine grace and presence at all times. We thought ourselves as helpless orphans, but the Mother’s love became our sheet-anchor.

At Vrindavan the Holy Mother had many spiritual experiences. One day her lady companions found her absorbed in deep Samadhi. They uttered the name of the Lord in her ears and tried to bring her mind down. I then repeated the name of Sri Ramakrishna with all my might and strength of voice and then the Mother seemed to come down to the ordinary sense-plane. During such periods of ecstasy, the Mother’s manner of speech, her voice, her way of taking food, her mode of walking and her general behaviour were exactly like those of the Mother. We have heard that in deep meditation the worshiper and the worshiped become one. The scriptures mention a spiritual state known as tadatmya-bhava, being at one with God. We have read in the Bhagavata how the Gopis, unable to bear the separation from Krishna, became so deeply absorbed in the thought of Him that they forgot for the moment their own individualities and behaved as if each of them were Krishna by herself. In the same manner characteristic of the Master, using event the same easy style of expression with metaphors and parables.

We were all surprised to see the spirit of Sri Ramakrishna unified with her. It was unique. We realised that the Master and the Mother were one in essence, though appearing in separate forms Is it not said in the scriptures, 'Lord, thou art man, thou art woman' (tvam stri tvam purnan asi)? The Master told me many times that there was no difference between his body and that of the Mother.

Nearly two days passed in that super conscious state. A great transformation came over the Mother after that experience. Thenceforward she was seen to remain always immersed in bliss. All her sorrow and grief and her feeling of separation from the Master vanished. A serene, blissful mood took their place. She sometimes behaved like a simple, innocent girl of young age.

Sometimes she would be eager to go to the various temples of Vrindavan for darshan or to visit holy spots on the banks of the Jamuna associated with the divine sport of Krishna and the Gopis. She was then in such a blissful state of mind that at times her yearning for Krishna's presence and her utterance of His name with intense love reminded us of Radha. I have heard from Golap-Ma and Yogin-Ma that the Mother at times frankly spoke of herself, expressing the view that she was Radha. She passed her time in constant meditation and japa and would often go into ecstasy, remaining self-forgetful for hours together.

We accompanied Mother to Hardwar. There her mood was quite different. Like an ordinary pilgrim she offered worship at all the temples on the banks of the Ganges. But at the sight of the Himalayas she stood speechless, she liked Vrindavan more and returned there soon.

While at Vrindavan, by the grace of the Mother I could understand and appreciate the divine leela (sport) of Krishna.