I tried to find the Eternal in my thoughts

But it is beyond the mind to comprehend.

My mind sees this plainly

But alas, my heart will not be satisfied.

Cossipore Garden House

One day in January 1884, the Master was going towards the pine grove when he suddenly went into samadhi. As he walked all by himself there was no one around to support him or guide his footsteps. He fell to the ground and dislocated a bone in his left arm. This accident had a significant influence on his mind. Consequently, his natural inclination soared above the consciousness of the body. The acute pain in the arm forced his mind to dwell on the body and on the world outside. But he saw a Divine purpose even in this accident. As his mind compelled him to dwell on the physical plane, he realized that he was an instrument in the hand of the Divine Mother, who had to fulfil a mission through his human body and mind.

He also distinctly found that God manifested Himself in an inscrutable way through diverse human beings – both good and evil. Thus he spoke of God in the guise of the wicked, the pious, the hypocrite and the lewd. He began to take a special delight in watching the Divine Play in the relative world. Sometimes the sweet, human relationship with God appeared more appealing than the all-effecting knowledge of Brahman. He often prayed:

Mother, don’t make me unconscious through the knowledge of Brahman. Don’t give me Brahmajnana, Mother. Am I not your child, and naturally timid? I must have my Mother. A million salutations to the knowledge of Brahman! Give it to those who want it.

Sri Ramakrishna dancing in divine ecstasy (Sketch by Nandlal Bose)

Again he prayed, ‘O Mother! Let me remain in contact with men. Don’t make me a dried-up ascetic. I want to enjoy your sport in the world.’ He tasted this rich and Divine experience as well as he enjoyed the love of God and the company of His devotees, because his mind was forced to come down to the consciousness of the body on account of the injury to his arm. Again he made fun of people who proclaimed him a Divine incarnation by pointing to his broken arm, saying, ‘Have you ever heard of God breaking His arm?’ It took the arm about five months to heal.

In April 1885, the Master suffered from another physical ailment. His throat became inflamed. Prolonged conversation or absorption in samadhi would aggravate the pain making the blood flow into the throat. Yet when the annual Vaishnava festival was celebrated at Panihati, near Calcutta, Sri Ramakrishna attended it against the doctor’s advice. With a group of disciples he spent himself in music, dance and ecstasy.

During the festival, the Vaishnavas sang and Sri Ramakrishna listened to them with rapt attention almost on the brink of another spiritual rapture. Sitting along with him were Sarat, Yogin, Yogin Ma and Naren. Among the devotees was a man dressed in Vaishnavite garb who caught Naren’s eye. Naren thought he was a fake and a hypocrite. He tried to stop the devotees’ playacting but could not as Ramakrishna went into samadhi and began to dance with extraordinary power and beauty. One could see the radiance that seemed to grow all around him. The singers were singing:

O Nitai giver of love is come!
Here’s Nitai bringing love Divine.
Our longing hearts could not be appeased without him.
Here’s Nitai our giver of love.

When Ramakrishna joined the song the hypocrite put food in his mouth. The Master instantly shuddered and spat the food out. Naren, who was watching all this, tried to pull the Master away but could not. The devotees fell at his feet and touched him. It is said that the man who gained enlightenment by Sri Ramakrishna’s touch that day spent the rest of his life in contemplation of the Almighty.

The illness took a turn for the worse and was diagnosed as ‘clergyman’s sore throat’. The patient was cautioned against conversation and ecstasies. Though he followed the physician’s directions regarding medicine and diet, he was neither able to control his samadhi nor withhold the solace of his advice to the seekers. Sometimes, like a sullen child, he complained to the Mother about the crowds who gave him no rest – day or night. His devotees overheard him saying to Goddess Kali, ‘Why do You bring all these worthless people here who are like milk diluted with five times its own quantity of water? My eyes are almost destroyed with blowing the fire to dry up the water. My health is gone. It is beyond my strength. Do it Yourself, if You want it done. This (pointing to his own body) is but a perforated drum, and if You keep beating it day in and day out, how long will it last?’

But this large heart never turned anyone away. He said, ‘Let me be condemned to be born over and over again even in the form of a dog, if I can be of help to a single soul.’ And he bore the pain and sang cheerfully, ‘Let the body be preoccupied with illness, but, O mind, dwell forever in God’s Bliss!’

Towards the beginning of September 1885, Sri Ramakrishna suffered a haemorrhage of the throat. The doctor now diagnosed the illness as cancer. Narendra broke this heart-rending news to the disciples. Within three days the Master was moved to Calcutta for better treatment. He remained at Balaram’s house for a week till a suitable place was found at Shyampukur, in North Calcutta. The whole of the following week he dedicated himself – practically without respite – to the instruction of those devotees who had been unable to visit him often at Dakshineswar. Discourses incessantly flowed from his tongue, and he often went into samadhi. Dr Mahendra Sarkar, the celebrated homeopath doctor who founded the Society for Science where C.V. Raman worked, was also invited to undertake his treatment.

Narendra organized the young disciples to attend to the Master day and night. At first they concealed the Master’s illness from their guardians, but when it became more serious they remained with him almost constantly, sweeping aside the objections of their relatives and devoting themselves whole-heartedly to the nursing of their beloved guru. These young men, under the watchful eyes of the Master and the leadership of Narendra, became the antaranga bhaktas, the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna’s inner circle. They were the privileged ones and witnessed many manifestations of the Master’s Divine powers. It was Narendra who received instructions regarding the propagation of his message after his death.

The Holy Mother – as Sarada Devi had come to be affectionately known by Sri Ramakrishna’s devotees – was brought from Dakshineswar to look after him – to prepare the special diet of the patient. Since the dwelling space was extremely limited, she had to adapt herself to cramped conditions. At three o’clock in the morning she finished her bath in the Ganga and then entered a small covered place on the terrace of the house, where she spent the whole day cooking and praying. Only once all the visitors left for the night – which never happened before eleven at night – she came down to her small bedroom to rest for a few hours. Thus, she spent three months and worked hard, slept little and prayed constantly for the Master’s recovery.

At Shyampukur, the devotees led an intense life. The way they attended to their Master was in itself a form of spiritual discipline. During this period, Sri Ramakrishna’s mind was soaring on an exalted plane of consciousness. Occasionally they caught a glimpse of his spiritual fervour. They sought to find the meaning of their Master’s illness, which was making him physically weak, since most of them accepted him as an incarnation of God. One group headed by Girish, with his robust optimism and great power of imagination, believed that the illness was a mere pretext to serve a deeper purpose. The Master had willed his illness in order to bring the devotees together and promote solidarity among them. As soon as this purpose was served he would himself get rid of the disease. A second group thought that the Divine Mother, in whose hands the Master was an instrument, had brought about this illness to serve Her own mysterious ends. But the young rationalists led by Narendra refused to ascribe a supernatural cause to a natural phenomenon. They believed that it was to him alone they must look for the attainment of their spiritual goal.

In spite of the physician’s best efforts, the prayers and nursing of the devotees, the illness progressed rapidly. Sometimes the pain appeared to be unbearable. The Master lived on liquid food and his frail body was becoming a mere shadow of his former self. Yet his face always radiated joy and he continued to welcome the visitors pouring in to receive his blessing. When certain zealous devotees tried to keep the visitors away, they were told by Girish, ‘You cannot succeed in this, he has been born for this very purpose to sacrifice himself for the redemption of others.’

As time passed, the Master’s health deteriorated further. Once when he was lying on his bed with a poultice around his throat surrounded by Naren, the doctor and other devotees, Sarada brought in milk and dalia to feed him. Just then Naren told him, ‘The veranda is full of devotees. There are crowds three deep beyond.’ Ramakrishna said enthusiastically, ‘Give me a moment. I will speak to them.’ The doctor tried to stop him from going. Sri Ramakrishna looked at him as though he was mad. He got up and tottered out.

The more the disease strengthened its hold, the more the body was devastated by illness, the more it became the habitation of the Divine spirit. Through its transparency, the gods and goddesses shone with ever-increasing luminosity. On the day of the Kali Puja, the devotees vividly saw in him the manifestation of the Divine Mother.

Around this time it was noticed that some of the devotees were making an unbridled display of their emotions. A number of them, particularly the householders, began to cultivate – at first unconsciously – the art of shedding tears. They even shook their bodies, contorted their faces, and went into trances, thereby attempting to imitate the Master. They began to openly declare Sri Ramakrishna a Divine incarnation and to regard themselves as his chosen people, who could neglect religious disciplines with impunity. Narendra’s sharp eyes soon sized up the situation. He found out that some of these external manifestations were being carefully practised at home, while some were the outcome of malnutrition, mental weakness or nervous debility. Mercilessly, he exposed those who pretended to have visions and asked all of them to develop a healthy, religious spirit. Narendra sang inspiring songs for the younger devotees, read with them the words of Christ and the Gita, and held before them the positive ideals of spirituality.

One day in the Shyampukur street house, Naren and Girish Ghosh were talking outside the Master’s room and Girish Ghosh very dramatically said, ‘Believe me, the Master is a Divine incarnation, so he’s not subject to karma. If he’s sick it’s for some purpose of his own; it’s playacting. As soon as his purpose has been fulfilled, he’ll get well.’

Gopalchandra Ghosh disagreed. ‘Everything to you is theatre, Babu. No, no. The Master has always said he’s the child and instrument of the Divine Mother. So it is She who has made him sick, for Her own purpose. Perhaps for the good of humanity. When Her purpose has been served, he’ll get well.’

And Naren said, ‘Look, I have no doubt the Master’s is a Divine spirit. But surely you can see the distinction between a divine spirit and a mortal body! Mortal bodies can be healed by human science.’

One day after seeing the patient, Dr Sarkar came out of Ramakrishna’s room, shook his head in disappointment and told Naren who was waiting outside, ‘I cannot stop him from talking. You must keep all these people away from him. He’s in Calcutta for a cure, not to be more easily accessible!’ He paused and looked at Naren. ‘I believe the expenses of the Master’s illness are being borne by the devotees?’

Naren nodded. Dr Sarkar said, ‘And I’m told some of you are mortgaging your houses, selling ornaments and rationing food for your children?’ Again Naren nodded. Dr Sarkar continued, ‘Then I will not take any fees from you for my services. No, no. It’s not because I think he’s Divine, don’t mistake me … but … I must tell you, what he has to say has captured my heart.’

Naren asked abruptly, ‘Is it curable?’ The doctor answered, ‘At first I was hopeful. But now I am not.’ Meanwhile, the Master lay in bed and the devotees kept streaming in to seek his blessings.

Those who have purity from sadhanas and samadhis have body systems so finely tuned they gain siddhis, like the ability to heal by touch. Sri Ramakrishna reported one day that he had seen his subtle body in front of him. All along the back of this body there were deep, dark sores. When questioned, the Divine Mother explained that when people who had done many evil deeds touched him, they gained good karma from him and passed their own impurities into his body. To this the Master responded, ‘Would that I could be born a thousand times so I could help humanity in this way!’

Naren was very concerned and said, ‘In that case we cannot allow people to touch you, Master.’ But Girish chided Naren, ‘How can you stop him? That’s what he was born for.’

Despite Naren’s best efforts the Master was not able to get the required rest and the devotees continued to pour in. One day a devotee was singing a song from a composition by Ramprasad:

I tried to find the Eternal in my thoughts
But it is beyond the mind to comprehend.
My mind sees this plainly
But alas, my heart will not be satisfied.

Hearing these words, Ramakrishna went into samadhi. Dr Sarkar who was attending on him, bent and examined him and said, ‘Clinically he’s dead. There is no breath, no heartbeat, no vital signs whatever.’ Naren answered, ‘No Doctor, he’s in samadhi. His mind is one with the Absolute. He will return to his body in time.’ The doctor who was unused to such happenings, said medical science had no understanding or explanation of this phenomenon and at that same moment Sri Ramakrishna opened his eyes and smiled, much to the bewilderment of the doctor.

One day a young man in European clothes slipped inside the door as a young devotee in robes. The devotee who was actually a woman dressed in man’s attire, ran up to Sri Ramakrishna and said, ‘Master, do you remember me? Binodini? I acted in Babu’s “Chaitanya Lila”. You came backstage to congratulate me.’ Ramakrishna, who remembered the woman as Binodini, smiled. She continued, ‘I knew they would not allow an actress to come to you – we’re considered … well … so I … Master … I needed to see you. When I touched your feet at the theatre, I … understood so much. I needed … Master you’re sick. I had to …’

The Master laughed and said, ‘If I were setting the rules here, the actress of “Chaitanya Lila” would get priority over the [speaking in English] all-important English … Come tell me what you want … You are a rascal. What a good trick. Naren will enjoy the story.’

Binodini came up and sat by Sri Ramakrishna’s bed and pleaded, ‘I want to realize God. I have committed great sins.’ The Master assured her that the Mother forgave her erring daughters if they repented sincerely and longed for her love. ‘Sincerity and practice … nothing more is needed.’ Binodini asked earnestly what scriptures she should read, so the Master lovingly told her, ‘When you know the Absolute, scriptures are worth nothing. A tiny ray of light from the Divine Mother makes all learning pale into insignificance. Attachment to lust and wealth binds the soul.’

Binodini touched her head to his feet and took leave of him in a state of bliss.

On another occasion, Pandit Shashadhar, Dr Sarkar, Naren and Latu were standing by the bedside of the Master, and Pandit Shashadhar told the Master, ‘The scriptures tell us that a Paramahamsa like yourself can cure himself by his own will power by concentrating his mind at the point of the illness. Why don’t you do this?’ Sri Ramakrishna was surprised at this and said, ‘Shashadhar, you call yourself a pandit, yet you can make such a suggestion? This mind has been given to God. How can I recall it and make it dwell in this dilapidated cage of flesh and bones?’ But Naren pleaded, ‘For our sake if not your own. Will you do it?’ Latu joined in, ‘Please, Master!’ Dr Sarkar added, ‘Yes. For us if not for you.’ Then Sri Ramakrishna told them, ‘Do you think I’m suffering like this because I want to?’ Dr Sarkar anxiously asked, ‘Master, did you pray to the Divine Mother?’

Ramakrishna nodded his head and said, ‘Yes I did and I told the Divine Mother that I can’t eat anything because of this pain, Mother. Please let me eat a little. But she pointed to all of you and said, “Why, you’re eating through so many mouths already.” Then I was so ashamed I could not utter another word.’

And the disciples too, hung their heads in shame.

The Master’s condition deteriorated further, and Dr Sarkar suggested a move out of polluted Calcutta. The house at Kashipur Gardens was dilapidated and expensive. Sri Ramakrishna asked Surendra Nath Mitra, one of his earliest followers, who had been cured of his destructive desire for alcohol and women, to take over the entire financial burden to ease the less affluent devotees; Mitra complied gladly. The Master was moved to Kashipur on 11 December 1885.

It was here that the curtain fell on the varied activities of the Master’s life, on the physical plane. His soul lingered in the mortal body for eight more months. It was a period of great passion for him. On the one hand, there was a constant crucifixion of the body and on the other, there was the triumphant revelation of the soul. Here the devotees witnessed first-hand the humanity and divinity of the Master cross a thin borderline again and again. Every minute of those eight months was suffused with touching tenderness of the heart and breathtaking elevation of spirit. Every word he uttered was full of pathos and sublimity.

It took the group only a few days to get adjusted to the new environment. The Holy Mother, assisted by Sri Ramakrishna’s niece, Lakshmi Devi, and a few other women devotees, took charge of the cooking for the Master and his attendants. Surendra willingly bore the major portion of the expenses while other householders contributed according to their means. The twelve disciples who were constant attendants of the Master were: Narendra, Rakhal, Baburam, Niranjan, Jogin, Latu, Tarak, the elder Gopal, Kali, Sashi, Sarat and the younger Gopal. Sarada, Harish, Hari, Gangadhar and Tulasi visited the Master often and practised sadhana at home. Narendra, preparing for his law examination, brought his books to the garden house in order to continue his studies during the infrequent spare moments. He encouraged the other disciples to intensify their meditation, scriptural studies and other spiritual disciplines. Immersed in their devotion they forgot the outside world and their worldly duties.

Among the attendants, Sashi was the embodiment of service. He did not practise meditation, japa or any of the other disciplines followed by the other devotees. He was convinced that service to the guru was the only religion for him. He sometimes even forgot to eat or rest and was ever ready at the Master’s bedside.

The move to Kashipur Gardens had the effect of consolidating the group that would in the months to come form the Ramakrishna Order. As the house was so far out of Calcutta, the disciples had to move and live there in order to look after the Master. The Master had said in one of his discourses at Dakshineswar, ‘This body will cease to exist by the Mother’s will. At that time it will be shown which devotees belong to the inner circle and which to the outer.’ Now at Kashipur he clarified, ‘When many people start to whisper about how I am,’ he said, ‘the devotees are being sifted by this illness. Those who are living here, renouncing the world, belong to the inner circle; and those who pay occasional visits and ask “How are you, Sir?” – they belong to the outer.’

One day, as Naren strolled in the garden he ran into other disciples and they began to talk to each other. Naren told them:

The Master may have decided to abandon his body. So, let us make as much spiritual progress as we can with meditation and service. Otherwise, when he leaves us, how shall we ever forgive ourselves? Are we going to put off calling the name of the Lord until our worldly desires are satisfied? See how we’re letting the days slip by. We’re getting more and more tied up in this net of desires. Let us give them up! Yes, let us give them all up!

Naren picked up some dried leaves and branches from under the tree and said, ‘Let us set fire to them. Holy men light dhuni fires at this time of night to burn up their desires. Let’s do the same.’

Before the Master became ill he had said, ‘I shall make the whole thing public before I go.’ On 1 January 1886, Sri Ramakrishna felt better and went down to the garden for a brief stroll. It was about three o’clock in the afternoon. About thirty lay disciples were present in the hall, while some sat under the trees. Sri Ramakrishna told Girish, ‘Well, Girish, what have you seen in me, that you proclaim me, before everybody, as an incarnation of God?’ Girish was not a man who was often taken by surprise. He apologized with folded hands to the Master for the liberties that he had taken. The Master forgave him and said, ‘I bless you all. Be illumined!’ And he fell into a spiritual mood. When the devotees heard these words, one and all were overwhelmed with emotion. They rushed to him and fell at his feet. He touched them all and each received an appropriate benediction. Every one of them, at the touch of the Master, experienced ineffable bliss – while some laughed, some wept, some sat down to meditate and others began to pray. Some of them saw light, some had visions of their chosen ideals, and some felt within their bodies the rush of spiritual power.

The Master did not hide the fact that he wished to make Narendra his spiritual heir and Narendra continued the work after Sri Ramakrishna’s passing. Sri Ramakrishna told him, ‘I leave these young men in your charge. See that they develop their spirituality and do not return home.’ One day he asked the boys, in preparation for a monastic life, to beg for their food from door to door without any regard to caste. They hailed the Master’s order and went out with begging bowls. A few days later he gave the cloth of the sannyasi to each of those disciples, including Girish, who was now second to none in his spirit of renunciation. Thus, the Master himself laid the foundation of the future Ramakrishna Order of monks.

Sri Ramakrishna was sinking day by day. His diet was reduced to a minimum and he found it almost impossible to swallow. He whispered to Mother, ‘I am bearing all this cheerfully, for otherwise you would be weeping. If you all say that it is better that the body should go rather than suffer this torture, I am willing.’ The next morning he told his depressed disciples seated near the bed, ‘Do you know what I see? I see that God alone has become everything. Men and animals are only frameworks covered with skin, and it is He who is moving through their heads and limbs. I see that it is God Himself who has become the block, the executioner and the victim for the sacrifice.’

He fainted with emotion. Regaining partial consciousness, he said, ‘Now I have no pain. I am very well.’ Looking at Latu, he said, ‘There sits Latu resting his head on the palm of his hand. To me it is the Lord who is seated in that posture.’

The words were tender and touching. Like a mother he caressed Narendra and Rakhal, gently stroking their faces. He spoke in a half whisper to Mother, ‘Had this body been allowed to last a little longer, many more souls would have been illuminated.’ He paused a moment and then said, ‘But Mother has ordained otherwise. Take me away, lest finding me guileless and foolish, people should take advantage of me and persuade me to bestow on them the rare gift of spirituality.’

A few minutes later he touched his chest and said, ‘Here fare two beings. One is She and the other is Her devotee. It is he who broke his arm, and it is he again who is now ill. Do you understand me?’ After a pause he added ‘Alas! To whom shall I tell all this? Who will understand me?’

‘Pain,’ he consoled them again, ‘is unavoidable as long as there is a body. The Lord takes on the body for the sake of His devotees.’

Yet one is not sure whether the Master’s soul was actually tortured by this agonizing disease. At least during his moments of spiritual exaltation – that became constant during the last days of his life on earth – he lost all consciousness of the body, illness and suffering. One of his attendants said later, ‘While Sri Ramakrishna lay sick he never actually suffered pain. He would often say: “O mind! Forget the body, forget the sickness, and remain merged in Bliss.” No, he did not really suffer. At times he would be in a state when the thrill of joy was clearly manifested in his body. Even when he could not speak, he would let us know in some way that there was no suffering and this fact was clearly evident to all who watched him. People who did not understand him thought that his suffering was very great. Spiritual joy was clearly manifested in his body. What spiritual joy he transmitted to us at that time! Could such a thing have been possible if he had been suffering physically? It was during this period that he taught us again these truths: “Brahman is always unattached. The three gunas are in it, but it is unaffected by them, just as the wind carries odour, yet remains odourless. Brahman is infinite being, infinite wisdom, infinite bliss. In it there exists no delusion, no misery, no disease, no death, no growth and no decay. The transcendental being and the being within are one and the same. There is one indivisible, absolute existence.”’

Sarada Ma secretly went to the Shiva temple across the Ganga to intercede with the Deity for the Master’s recovery. In a revelation she was told to prepare herself for the inevitable end.

One day, while Naren was sitting by the bed of the Master and as a burning desire for realization overwhelmed him, he said to the Master, ‘Please permit me a realization. Everyone else has had theirs. Why not me? I sit with you every night for three hours, while you teach me. Yet I have not had a sight of the Supreme.’ The Master told him, ‘You should settle your family affairs. Then you will have everything. But what is it you want?’ Naren said, ‘I want to be in samadhi for a long time.’ The Master reprimanded him, ‘You are a fool. There’s a higher plane than that. You keep singing: “All that exists art Thou.” A samadhi is temporary and from it one must come down. Ordinary men may reach samadhi. But only an Ishwarkoti can continually see that God exists in the manifested universe.’

Just then Mother Sarada entered to clean up after giving the Master some gruel and the Master told her, ‘They don’t tell me how long it will take me to recover. How is it that I have all these ecstasies and visions and samadhis, and yet I’m so ill? It was revealed to me in a vision that during my last days I would have to live on pudding.’

And he continued with tears in his eyes, ‘Is this what it meant? And so painfully too?’

Mother Sarada stopped cleaning and looked at him and he continued, ‘Look here. You will have to learn to do something too, this body cannot do everything.’ Mother Sarada got frightened and said, ‘No. No. I’m only a woman. I cannot do anything.’ The Master replied, ‘No. That will not do. You will have to learn to do many things. It is the will of the Divine Mother that when I am gone you have much to do.’ And he gave her instructions.

Once while Naren was meditating, he suddenly shouted, ‘Where is my body? I can’t feel my body.’ When Gopal heard him shout, he ran in and said, ‘Here, Naren.’ Naren continued, ‘I can’t feel my body. I only have a head.’ And Gopal helplessly ran to the Master and reported, ‘Naren cannot feel his body. He is losing consciousness.’ So the Master answered, ‘He is in nirvikalpa. Let him be for a while. He has teased me long enough for it!’ Naren settled down after a while and went to the Master’s room and the Master said, ‘Now Mother has shown you everything. But this will be kept shut up in a box like a jewel and I will keep the key. When your work on earth is done, the box will be unlocked and you will know everything you knew, just now. You will know who you are and will voluntarily give up your body. But now your work is to shake the world with your intellect and spiritual power.’

Naren, who was a sceptic, was still doubtful about his Master and as he massaged the Master’s feet he said to himself, ‘If in the midst of this dreadful physical pain, he can declare his Godhead, then I shall believe him.’ And the Master whose eyes were closed and who was also in great pain indicated to his body with tremendous effort and said in a clear voice, ‘Why Naren! Do you still doubt me? The one who became Rama and he who was Krishna is now within this sheath … But not according to your Vedanta!’ Naren was moved by this final affirmation. He broke down and wept grievously.

When the Master was sinking, Mother Sarada wept by his bedside. The Master told her, ‘You mustn’t be anxious. Your life will be just the same. Naren and the others will look after you. They’ll be as good to you as you have been to me.’

Some days later, while Narendra was alone with the Master, Sri Ramakrishna looked at him and went into samadhi. Narendra felt the penetration of a subtle force and lost all outer consciousness. When he regained consciousness, he found the Master weeping.

Sri Ramakrishna said to him, ‘Today I have given you my all and I am now only a poor fakir, possessing nothing. By this power you will do immense good in the world, and not till it is accomplished will you return.’ Henceforth, the Master lived in the disciple.

On Sunday, 15 August 1886 the Master’s pulse became irregular. The devotees stood by the bedside. Towards dusk, Sri Ramakrishna had difficulty in breathing. A short time later he complained of hunger. A little liquid food was put into his mouth; some of it he swallowed, while the rest ran down his chin. Two attendants began to make fun of him. All at once he went into samadhi of a rather unusual type. The body became stiff. Sashi burst into tears. But after midnight the Master revived. He was now very hungry and helped himself to a bowl of porridge and said he was strong again. He sat up and several pillows were propped behind him for support. Sashi was next to him, fanning him. Narendra placed the Master’s feet on his lap and rubbed them. Repeatedly the Master told him, ‘Take care of these boys.’ Then he lay down. He cried the name of Kali, his life’s Beloved, three times in ringing tones, and lay back.

At two minutes past one, early on Monday morning, 16 August 1886, something passed over his body. His hair stood on end. His eyes were fixed on the tip of his nose. His face was illuminated with a smile. The final ecstasy had begun. It was the mahasamadhi, total absorption, from which his mind never returned. Narendra, unable to bear it, ran downstairs. But the devotees were unwilling to admit that the Master was no more. Through the night they watched and waited for the Master to return. Dr Sarkar arrived the following noon and pronounced that life had departed not more than half an hour before.

At five o’clock, the Master’s body was taken downstairs, laid on a cot, dressed in ochre clothes, and decorated with sandal paste and flowers. A procession was taken out. Passers-by wept as the body was taken to the cremation ground at the ghat on the Ganga and cremated there, almost directly across the river from the spot on which stands the great Belur Math today.

When the devotees returned to the garden house and carried the urn with the sacred ashes, a calm resignation came to their souls and they cried, ‘Victory unto the Guru!’

The Holy Mother wept in her room, not for her husband but because she felt that Mother Kali had left her. When she was about to wear a pristine white sari and don the marks of a Hindu widow, in a moment of revelation she heard the words of faith, ‘I have only passed from one room to another.’