Table of Contents
Friday, August 28
It was dawn. Sri Ramakrishna was awake and meditating on the Divine Mother. On account of his illness the devotees were deprived of his sweet chanting of the Mother’s name.
Divine Incarnations act like men
Sri Ramakrishna was seated on the small couch. He asked M., “Well, why have I this illness?”
M: “People will not have the courage to approach you unless you resemble them in all respects. But they are amazed to find that in spite of such illness you don’t know anything but God.”
MASTER (smiling): “Balarām also said, ‘If even you can be ill, then why should we wonder about our illnesses?’ Lakshmana was amazed to see that Rāma could not lift His bow on account of His grief for Sita. ‘Even Brahman weeps, entangled in the snare of the 5 elements.’”
M: “Jesus Christ, too, wept like an ordinary man at the suffering of His devotees.”
MASTER: “How was that?”
Jesus and Lazarus
M: ‘There were 2 sisters, Mary and Martha. Lazarus was their brother. All 3 were devoted to Jesus. Lazarus died. Jesus was on His way to their house. One of the sisters, Mary, ran out to meet Him. She fell at His feet and said weeping, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died!’ Jesus wept to see her cry.
“Then Jesus went to the tomb of Lazarus and called him by name. Immediately Lazarus came back to life and walked out of the tomb.”
Similarities between Christ and Sri Ramakrishna
M: “You don’t ask your devotees to fast or practise other austerities. You don’t prescribe hard and fast rules about food. Christ’s disciples did not observe the sabbath; so the Pharisees took them to task. Thereupon Jesus said: ‘They have done well to eat. As long as they are with the bridegroom they must make merry. Christ meant that as long as the disciples live with the Incarnation of God, they should only make merry. Why should they be sorrowful? But when He returns to His own abode in heaven, then will come the days of their sorrow and suffering.”
M: “Yes, sir. You say: ‘The youngsters are not yet touched by: “woman and gold”; they will be able to assimilate instruction. It is like keeping milk in a new pot: the milk may turn sour if it is kept in a pot in which curd has been made.’ Christ also spoke like that.”
M: “‘If new wine is kept in an old bottle, the bottle may crack. If an old cloth is patched with new cloth, the old cloth tears away.’ “Further, you tell us that you and the Mother are one. Likewise, Christ said, ‘I and My Father are one.’ You say to us, ‘God will surely listen to you if you call on Him earnestly.’ So also Christ said, ‘Knock and it shall be opened unto you.’
M: “Sir, I don’t quite understand the meaning of complete or partial or fractional Incarnation. But I have understood, as ‘you explained it, the idea of a round hole in a wall. There is a round hole in the wall. Through it one is able to see part of the meadow on the other side of the wall. Likewise, through you one sees part of the Infinite God.”
M. finished his bath in the Ganges and went to the Master’s room. It was 8am.
He asked Lātu to give him the rice prasad of Jagannath.
M: “Yesterday I got some prasad of Jagannath from Balarām Babu’s house. I take one or two grains daily.”
M. saluted the Master and took his leave. Sri Ramakrishna said to him tenderly: “Come early in the morning tomorrow. The hot sun of the rainy season is bad for the health.”
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