The Master And Buddha

Friday, April 9, 1886

IT was 5pm. Narendra, Kāli, Niranjan, and M. were talking downstairs in the Cossipore garden house.

NIRANJAN (to M.): “Is it true that Vidyāsāgar is going to open a new school? Why don’t you try to secure employment there for Naren?”

Narendra

I have had enough of service under Vidyāsāgar.

Narendra’s visit to Bodh-Gaya

Narendra had just returned from a visit to Bodh-Gaya, where he had gone with Kāli and Tārak. In that sacred place he had been absorbed in deep meditation before the image of Buddha. He had paid his respects to the Bodhi-tree, which is an offshoot of the original tree under which Buddha attained Nirvāna.

Kāli said, “One day at Gaya, at Mesh Babu’s house, Narendra sang many classical songs to the accompaniment of the Mridanga.”

Sri Ramakrishna sat on his bed in the big hall upstairs. It was evening. M. was alone in the room, fanning the Master. Lātu came in a little later.

Ramakrishna

(to M.): “Please bring a chaddar for me and a pair of slippers.

M: “Yes, sir.”

Ramakrishna

(to Lātu): “The chaddar will cost ten ānnās , and then the slippers.

What will be the total cost?”

LĀTU: “One rupee and ten ānnās .”

Sri Ramakrishna asked M., by a sign, to note the price.

Narendra entered the room and took a seat. Śaśi, Rakhal, and one or two other devotees came in. The Master asked Narendra to stroke his feet. He also asked him whether he had taken his meal.

MASTER (smiling, to M.): “He went there [referring to Bodh-Gaya].”

Buddha’s doctrines

M. (to Narendra): “What are the doctrines of Buddha?“NARENDRA: “He could not express in words what he had realized by his tapasya . So people say he was an atheist.”

MASTER (by signs): “Why atheist? He was not an atheist. He simply could not express his inner experiences in words.

‘Buddha’ means to become one with Bodha, Pure Intelligence, by meditating on That which is of the nature of Pure Intelligence; it is to become Pure Intelligence Itself.”

Narendra

Yes, sir. There are three classes of Buddhās: Buddha, Arhat, and Bodhisattva.

MASTER: “This too is a sport of God Himself, a new lila of God.

“Why should Buddha be called an atheist? When one realizes Svarupa, the true nature of one’s Self, one attains a state that is something between Asti , is, and Nāsti , is not.”

Narendra

(to M:): “It is a state in which contradictions meet. A combination of hydrogen and oxygen produces cool water; and the same hydrogen and oxygen are used in the oxyhydrogen blowpipe. In that state both activity and non-activity are possible; that is to say, one then performs unselfish action. Worldly people, who are engrossed in sense-objects, say that everything exists Asti. But the Mayavadis, the illusionists, say that nothing exists Nāsti. The experience of a Buddha is beyond both ’existence’ and ’non-existence'.

Ramakrishna

This ’existence’ and ’non-existence’ are attributes of Prakriti. The Reality is beyond both.

(to Narendra): “What did Buddha preach?

Narendra

He did not discuss the existence or non-existence of God. But he showed compassion for others all his life. “A hawk pounced upon a bird and was about to devour it. In order to save the bird, Buddha gave the hawk his own flesh.”

Narendra’s enthusiasm about Buddha

Sri Ramakrishna remained silent. Narendra became more and more enthusiastic about Buddha.

Narendra

How great his renunciation was! Born a prince, he renounced everything! If a man has nothing, no wealth at all, what does his renunciation amount to? After attaining Buddhahood and experiencing Nirvāna, Buddha once visited his home and exhorted his wife, his son, and many others of the royal household to embrace the life of renunciation. How intense his renunciation was! But look at Vyāsa’s conduct! He forbade his son Sukadeva to give up the world, saying, ‘My son, practise religion as a householder.’

Sri Ramakrishna was silent. As yet he had not uttered a word.

NARENDRA: “Buddha did not care for Śakti or any such thing. He sought only Nirvāna. Ah, how intense his dispassion was! When he sat down under the Bodhi-tree to meditate, he took this vow: ‘Let my body wither away here if I do not attain Nirvāna.’ Such a firm resolve!

“This body, indeed, is the great enemy. Can anything be achieved without chastising it?”

ŚAŚI: “But it is you who say that one develops sattva by eating meat. You insist that one should eat meat.”

NARENDRA: “I eat meat, no doubt, but I can also live on rice, mere rice, even without salt.”

After a few minutes Sri Ramakrishna broke his silence. He asked Narendra, by sign, whether he had seen a tuft of hair on Buddha’s head.

Narendra

No, sir. He seems to have a sort of crown; his head seems to be covered by strings of rudraksha beads placed on top of one another.

MASTER: “And his eyes?”

NARENDRA: “They show that he is in samādhi.”

Master about himself

Sri Ramakrishna again became silent. Narendra and the other devotees looked at him intently. Suddenly a smile lighted his face and he began to talk with Narendra. M. was fanning him.

Ramakrishna

(to Narendra): “Well, here you find everything-even ordinary red lentils and tamarind. Isn’t that so?

Narendra

After experiencing all those states, you are now dwelling on a lower plane.

M. (to himself): “Yes, after realizing all those ideals, he is now living as a bhakta, a devotee of God.“MASTER: “Someone seems to be holding me to a lower plane.”