Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa visited the Brahmo Temple, Nandan bagan, Calcutta in April 1883. After the prayer, lunch was held upstairs. The hosts forgot to take care of Shri Ramakrishna and his disciples. Consequently, they were to settle for the lunch in a dusty corner. Here is a quote of the incident from the Gospel of Shri Ramakrishna, Volume I.
MASTER (to Rakhal and the other devotees): "What's the matter? Nobody is paying any attention to us!"
RAKHAL (angrily): "Sir, let us leave here and go to Dakshineswar."
MASTER (with a smile): "Keep quiet! The carriage hire is three rupees and two annas. Who will pay that? Stubbornness won't get us anywhere. You haven't a penny, and you are making these empty threats! Besides, where shall we find food at this late hour of the night?"
After a long time dinner was announced. The devotees were asked to take their seats. The Master, with Rakhal and the others, followed the crowd to the second floor. No room could be found for him inside the hall. Finally, with great difficulty, a place was found tor him in a dusty corner. A brahmin woman served some curry, but Sri Ramakrishna could not eat it. He ate luchi with salt and took some sweets.
There was no limit to the Master's kindness. The hosts were mere youngsters; how could he be displeased with them, even though they did not show him proper respect? Further, it would have been inauspicious for the household if a holy man had left the place without taking food. Finally, the feast had been prepared in the name of God.
Sri Ramakrishna got into a carriage: but who was to pay the hire? The hosts could not be found. Referring to this incident afterwards, the Master said to the devotees, jokingly: "The boys went to our hosts for the carriage hire. First they were put out, but at last they managed to get together three rupees. Our hosts refused to pay the extra two annas and said, 'No, that will do.'"
BLOGGER'S VIEWS
*Shri Ramakrishna knew his own position.
*He knew the value of money.
*He knew the value of food.
*Three Rupees and three annas in 1883 nearly equals Rs. 300 in 2008.
*If one knows how to collect carriage hires from hosts and devotees, one can have kanchan-jayam (overcoming the temptation of gold). Silver coins placed on a bed-stead can be rejected.
*The incident shows Kanchana jayam was only a facade exhibitionism.
*Difficult to believe that this type of worldly-intelligent person would have swept the floor with his hair.
2 comments:
Enlightened men live in forest. They eat fruits and roots of trees. So they are free from the need for money. But when he is living in the society to preach his message he is also forced into the rules of society and thus the need for money becomes a necessity even to him. But this can not mean that he also has some attachment to money.
Let us take an example. A ship has broken down and has sunk into the middle of an ocean. All the passengers got hold of some broken flaoting pieces of ship and are hanging on it. Now there is one person who has by swimming found the shore. Now he wants to help others. He swims back and to them and he also climbs on one of the floating pieces. Then he delivers his message: " hi everyone! Give up clinging to these flaoting pieces and please all of you start swimming towards the shore this direction, otherwise you all will be drowned one day." So it would be totally improper for the others to say " why he is also clinging to one of the pieces but at the same time he wants us to give up this clinging, ridiculous isn't it?"
Take for example the life of Buddha. He said that desires are the reason that stands as obstruction for one attaining nirvana. So clearly people have desires the most strongest desires being the desire for money and sex. So Ramakrishna has not gone wrong in any way. He just told the truth.
"The incident shows Kanchana jayam was only a facade exhibitionism".
The incident shows you nothing.
Post a Comment