699 - Shantatmanandaji Maharaj

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Temple

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Thursday, March 02, 2023. 06:00.

Turning Point :

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Sri Sarada Devi Temple

Sri Ramakrishna used to refer to Narendranath, in short Naren (the future Swami Vivekananda) as a Dhyana Siddha, an adept in meditation.  This conclusion was based on Sri Ramakrishna’s spiritual revelation.  One day in an exalted mood of spiritual ecstasy Sri Ramakrishna’s mind soared far beyond the realm of mundane existence and reached transcendental heights.  There he saw seven venerable sages sitting deeply absorbed in a state of unbroken meditation called Samadhi.  The region is referred as Saptarishi Mandal in Hindu tradition.  Sri Ramakrishna saw that Narendranath was one of those rishis who would come down to earth at the bidding of a superior power, for the regeneration of Mankind.  When Narendranath met Sri Ramakrishna, the latter could immediately recall that spiritual vision and also recognize who Narendranath was.  A natural tendency towards meditation was witnessed even during childhood in Naren.  In fact, even the way he used to sleep was quite similar to someone getting absorbed in a deep state of meditation.  Every day at night when he was about to be overpowered by sleep, a small speck of light would appear between his eyebrows which would become bigger and bigger and grow into a ball of light which would engulf his whole body.  He thought that this was how all children slept and never felt that such an experience was very special and unique to him because of his inborn meditative nature.  As a young boy, one day he was engaged in a game of meditation with his friends in one of the rooms in the terrace of his house.  After some time a poisonous cobra appeared on the scene with its hood raised.  All his friends ran away in fear, but Narendra did not even notice the presence of the snake which, however, glided away without harming the boy.  Such was his natural state and tendency towards meditation.

 

Swami Vivekananda Temple

As a youth he was deeply possessed by the idea of finding out whether God really existed and this took him to several well-known personalities in the field of religion.  Finally, he came to Sri Ramakrishna and heard for the first time a positive answer about the existence of God.  Sri Ramakrishna’s answer that he had not only seen God, but could also show Him to Narendra won over the latter’s heart.  So, Narendra started frequenting Sri Ramakrishna and thus began a long and arduous spiritual journey.  Once Sri Ramakrishna asked him as to what he really wanted (to achieve in spiritual life) and Narendra replied that he would like to remain deeply absorbed in Samadhi and come out only once a while to have a morsel of food for the survival of the body and then again dive deep into meditation.  Any other Guru would have been overwhelmed with joy by such an answer from his disciple.  But, Sri Ramakrishna and Narendranath had a unique teacher-disciple relationship and both were born on this earth to accomplish an extraordinary mission, namely, to guide mankind in its search for the ultimate truth.  Sri Ramakrishna became very annoyed and scolded him saying, “What a narrow-minded person you are!  I thought that you would become like a huge banyan tree under the shades of which thousands of scorched souls would take shelter, whereas you are thinking of your own Mukti and liberation.  Don’t you sing the song which says whatever is or whatever one sees is only the manifestation of the Lord?  There is a state which is even higher than one’s own Mukti or being absorbed in Samadhi all the time.”  Sri Ramakrishna meant that being aware of the presence of God in everything that exists is a state superior to having a vision of God or feeling his presence during meditation.  During the last days of Sri Ramakrishna, a group of young men gathered around him who was to later form the nucleus of the Ramakrishna Movement, in particular the Ramakrishna Order of monks.  Many of them were deeply engaged in intense spiritual practices and at the same time were also serving Sri Ramakrishna who was critically ill.  By the grace and guidance of Sri Ramakrishna they were also having many spiritual experiences.  Narendra was also doing intense Sadhana and was very keen to have the experience of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, a deep state of meditative absorption in which one transcends the limitation of body, mind, etc.  He was constantly pestering Sri Ramakrishna to help him gain this experience.  Finally, he did experience Nirvikalpa Samadhi and remained deeply absorbed in a state of realization, transcending the limitations of body and mind.  His associates felt frightened and ran to Sri Ramakrishna expressing their anxiety about Narendra’s survival.  But, Sri Ramakrishna assured them and told them to let him remain in that state since he had pestered him long for such an experience.  When he came down from that state, Narendra came to offer his salutations to Sri Ramakrishna who told him, “you have experienced the Nirvikalpa Samadhi, but this treasure would remain locked and the key will be with me.  The treasure will be opened again after you finish Mother’s work”.  After some months, Sri Ramakrishna gave up his mortal coil and scaling transcendental heights reached the supreme abode of undivided consciousness.  The young disciples who were to form the nucleus of the Ramakrishna Order began an intense life of austerity and spiritual striving.  They set out as wandering monks and travelled to different parts of India.

Narendranath, in whose heart raging fire of intense renunciation was burning, also set out on a pilgrimage as a wandering monk.  After some period he reached a place called Gazipur in Uttar Pradesh where he met a great yogi by name Pavahari Baba.  He was deeply attracted by this saint’s life of intense austerity and unbroken absorption in meditation.  It was said that Pavahari Baba would not come out for days together and would remain absorbed in meditation without even the thought of any food.  Narendranath’s inner instincts towards a meditative life were deeply stirred and he wanted to take spiritual initiation from Pavahari Baba.  The latter agreed to initiate him after much persuasion.  Then occurred a great turning point in the life of Narendranath.  The night before the day of his initiation he was lying in a open courtyard on a camp-cot.  He was about to fall asleep when he was suddenly shaken by the living presence of Sri Ramakrishna who was standing very close to his cot.  He was looking at Narendra with very sorrowful eyes as if pleading with him not to go ahead with his resolve of getting initiation from Pavahari Baba.  In a trice Sri Ramakrishna was gone, but Swami Vivekananda (from now onwards we shall refer to him by his monastic name) was deeply shaken by this experience and could not go ahead with his resolve of getting initiated by Pavahari Baba.  Swami Vivekananda made several attempts to receive spiritual initiation from Pavahari Baba, all with the same result.  In one of the biographies it is mentioned that Sri Ramakrishna appeared 21 times to wean away Swamiji from the influence of Pavahari Baba.  Finally, Swamiji gave up his resolve and wrote a wonderful letter to one of his associates in which he mentioned that never before had the world seen such a state of spiritual illumination as seen in the life of Sri Ramakrishna, nor had the world ever seen a greater compassion for the man in bondage as exhibited by Sri Ramakrishna.  

The above incident is an extraordinary turning point in the life of Swami Vivekananda.  Who knows which way he would have gone had he been influenced spiritually by Pavahari Baba.  Through the grace of Sri Ramakrishna he realized his life was not meant for individual spiritual emancipation or Mukti, rather it was meant for Sarva Mukti or the liberation of the entire mankind.  In his mind the conflict between the immanent and the transcendent realities was resolved and he learnt to perceive God or the Ultimate Realty everywhere rather than in the depths of his heart alone.  Wandering through the length and breadth of India ultimately he reached Kanyakumari.  He swam across the shark-infested waters of the ocean and reached the huge rock where today stands a magnificent memorial in his honour.  There he meditated for three days and nights.  During that period of meditative absorption, India’s glorious past, her present condition of degradation and her glorious future as well as his role and plan of action in this regard, were all revealed to him in a mystical way.  His trip to America, his success at the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago at 1893, his triumphant return to India in 1897 and his setting up of the Ramakrishna Order with the twin ideals of Atmanomokshartham Jagadhitayacha i.e. one’s own spiritual emancipation and the welfare of the world, are the results of his above spiritual realization.  The Ramakrishna Mission today stands as a glowing testimony to Swami Vivekananda’s spiritual depth and dimension as well as farsighted vision of restoration of India’s glorious past.

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Shantatmanandaji Maharaj

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