Evolution of love

BEAUTIFUL STORY!

Heart The members of that Hari-sabha regarded themselves as having absolutely taken refuge at Sri Chaitanya’s holy feet.
And, in order to remember constantly this fact, they spread a seat and, assuming the presence of the great Lord on it, carried on before it worship, reading and all the other activities of the Sabha.

That seat was called “the seat of Sri Chaitanya”. All devoutly made salutations to him in front of that seat. They never allowed anybody to sit on it. The reading was being done in front of that seat decorated with garlands of flowers, etc., that day as on all other days.

The reader was reading devoutly, thinking that he was doing it for the great Lord, and the listeners rejoiced to think, that they were sitting in his divine Presence and were blessed with drinking the nectar of Hari’s words. The joy and the devotional mood of the reader and the listeners became, it is superfluous to say, intensified a hundredfold on the arrival of the Master.
The Master lost himself listening to the nectar-like words of the Bhagavata. He ran towards the seat of Sri Chaitanya, stood on it and entered into so profound a Samadhi, that not even the slightest movement of the vital force was observable in him. Seeing that extraordinary loving smile on his effulgent face and the upward pointing of his finger in his uplifted hand, as in the images of Sri Chaitanya, eminent devotees felt in their heart of hearts, that the Master in Bhavamukha had become completely identified with the great Lord — that, having ascended to a higher plane of consciousness.

The reader forgot to read and was motionless, looking at him; although unable to grasp and understand the Bhavasamadhi of the Master, the listeners also became overwhelmed with an indescribable, extraordinary awe and astonishment and remained calm and charmed. Nobody could then say anything, good or bad. Experiencing an indescribable bliss for the time being, all felt that they were carried away, so to speak, by the powerful current of the Master’s spiritual mood to an indefinable realm. They did not at first know what to do, but later, impelled by that indescribable feeling, they raised a chorus of the loud shout of “Hari” and began singing His Name. … While he heard the Name of Hari sung, the Master became a little conscious of his own body. Filled with love and devotion, he then mixed with those, who were singing in a chorus and sometimes danced charmingly in an unrestrained way and sometimes remained motionless in ecstasy on account of the excess of spiritual emotion. The zeal of all present increased a hundredfold owing to that behaviour of the Master. They became inebriated and began singing Kirtan.

Who was then to judge whether it was right or wrong for the Master to occupy the seat of Sri Chaitanya? After singing the noble qualities of Sri Hari and of “the great Lord” accompanied by unrestrained dancing for a long time, all cried out: “Victory to the Divine Lord” and brought that divine sport to a close for that day. The Master returned to Dakshineswar shortly afterwards. …
Bhagavan Das (the respected vaishnava “father”, the well-known sadhu of Kalna, who was then probably more than eighty years old) also heard of it. ... The perfected “father” … was very much annoyed on hearing of the occupation of the seat of his own Chosen Ideal by the unknown Ramakrishna, and blinded by anger, he did not hesitate to call him names and even to describe him as a hypocrite. The annoyance and anger of the “father”, we can easily understand, now doubled to see the members of the Hari-sabha and he scolded them saying, that they were culpable in having allowed that improper action to be done in their presence. …
A few days after that event had taken place, Sri Ramakrishna, of his own accord, went to Kalna with Mathur Babu and Hriday. … When he was to go to the presence of an unknown person, it very often happened, that the childlike Master at first felt an indescribable fear, shyness, etc. … That was the case also, when he was going to see the “father”. Asking Hriday to go ahead, he covered almost his whole body from head to foot with a piece of cloth and followed him to the hermitage. Gradually Hriday went up to the “father”, saluted him and said: “My maternal uncle loses himself in the name of God. He has been experiencing that state for a long time. He has come to pay a visit to you”.
… before he (Hriday) had spoken the aforesaid words after saluting the “father”, he heard him say: “Some great soul, it seems, has come to the hermitage”. Saying these words, the “father” looked around. But, as he did not see any one except Hriday coming, he applied his mind to the topic he had been discussing with those before him. … Just at that moment Sri Ramakrishna came there, saluted the “father” and sat humbly beside the persons assembled there. His face was not clearly seen by anyone as the whole of his body was covered with a piece of cloth. …
Now, as soon as he came to Bhagavan Das, the Master heard him first of all say that he would snatch away the string of beads from someone and expel him from the community. Again, a little after that, he heard him say that he had not given up counting his beads and the putting on of Tilaka, so that he might teach people better.
When the “father” said again and again: “I’ll expel him”, “I’ll teach people”, “I have not given up putting on Tilaka”, etc., the simple-hearted Master could not suppress his annoyance as we do following the ways of the so-called cultured people. He suddenly stood up and said to the “father”: “What, you are so egotistic even now? Will you teach people? Will you expel him? Will you accept or reject things? Who are you to teach people? Will you teach them, if He, to Whom the world belongs, does not do that?” The covering of the Master’s body had then fallen; the cloth he was wearing had become loose and had fallen from the loins and his face was illumined with an extraordinary divine effulgence. He was beside himself and was, it seemed, unconscious of what and to whom he was speaking. Again, hardly had he said those few words, when he was motionless and speechless in Samadhi on account of the excess of spiritual emotion. …
But unlike ordinary people, who under such circumstances become angry and determine to avenge themselves, the “father” had not that feeling in his mind. The sincerity born of Tapas came to his help and made him understand the truth of the words of Sri Ramakrishna. He felt, that there was no other doer in the world than God, that however much a man might think in his egotism, that he was doing everything, he was actually a slave of circumstances and could do only as much as he had been given to do and understand; and that although worldly people might do whatever they liked, a devotee should not forget this truth even for a moment, lest he should go astray.
Thus the powerful words of the Master opened the “father’s” inward vision to a great extent, showed him his faults and made him humble and modest. Again, seeing that extraordinary manifestation of the spiritual mood in the person of Sri Ramakrishna, the “father” became convinced, that he was not an ordinary person.
We can very easily infer, that there flowed an extraordinary current of wonderful bliss, during their conversation on the Divine Lord. During that talk the Master was experiencing Bhavasamadhi and enjoying unbounded bliss at short intervals; and the “father” was charmed to see, that there was always manifested in the person of Sri Ramakrishna that great mood, in the study and understanding of which through the scriptures he spent so much of his time. Therefore his devotion to and reverence for Sri Ramakrishna became profound. When, afterwards, the “father” came to know, that he was the Paramahamsa of Dakshineswar, who under the influence of a spiritual mood, had lost himself and occupied the seat of Sri Chaitanya at the Hari-sabha of Kalutola, there was no limit to his sorrow and repentance. He thought: “Is it this person, whom I called names for nothing!” He saluted Sri Ramakrishna with humility and asked his pardon for it. Thus came to an end the play of love on the part of the Master and the “father” that day..