Last Days
Chapter XI – Last Days
During the sultry months of the year 1885, Sri Ramakrishna suffered a great deal from the terrible heat. The suffering escalated also with the ice that he took every day that the devotees got him. The frequent use of ice produced a pain in the throat which was at first so trifling as to pass unnoticed. In a month, it aggravated that the disciples were alarmed and called in a specialist. Not with standing the prescription of various remedies, his condition did not show any sign of improvement. On days of the full and the new moon, the pain became acute that it was impossible for Sri Ramakrishna to eat solid food. The doctors diagnosed the disease as ‘Clergyman’s sore throat’.
Sri Ramakrishna carried out the doctors’ injunctions faithfully, except on two points, namely checking the divine ecstasies and giving rest to the vocal organs. As soon as he spoke of God, he lost all consciousness of the body and transcended into Samadhi. Nor would he stop speaking to people who, afflicted by the world, came to him for solace.
The disease proved more and more obstinate. A house was soon engaged at Shyampukur in Calcutta, and in the beginning of October 1885, Sri Ramakrishna was moved to the new premises to provide better facilities for medical care. Dr. Mahendra Lal Sarkar, the then veteran homeopath and founder of the Association for the Cultivation of Science, was entrusted with the task of treating Sri Ramakrishna. When Dr. Sarkar learnt that the devotees who had brought the Master to Calcutta for treatment were defraying all expenses, he offered his services free as a labour of love.
The devotees now keenly felt the necessity of securing able hands to prepare Sri Ramakrishna’s food and to nurse him day and night. It could be done only through the combined efforts of the Holy Mother and the young devotees. News was accordingly sent to the Holy Mother at Dakshineswar. When the question of preparing the diet was settled, attention was given to the matter of night duty. Narendra Nath took this charge upon himself and began to pass the night at Shyampukur. Fired by his example, a few sturdy youth lent their support. Narendra’s sacrifice for the sake of the Master, his inspiring talks and association with them made an indelible impression upon their minds; and banishing all selfishness, they resolved to consecrate their lives to the noble ideal of service to the Guru and realization of God. It is interesting to note that though only four or five were attracted to this service of love at its initial stage at Shyampakur, the number of such workers almost quadrupled towards the last.
The guardians of the boys, seeing them neglect their studies and stay with the Master, grew alarmed and took to various means to bring them back to their homes. But the boys, with the glorious example of Narendra Nath before them, stood firm as rocks. The selfless enthusiasm of the devotees centred their adoration for the Master, immediately binding them together; and the Ramakrishna Brotherhood. Though it had its origin at Dakshineswar, the movement owed most of its growth to the holy associations of Shyampukur and the Cossipore garden.
Dr. Mahendra Lal Sarkar took up in right earnest the task of treating the Master. After the examination was over he would spend hours with Sri Ramakrishna in various religious discourses. Thus, Dr. Sarkar became more attached to the Master. As a result of this intimate relationship established between the Master and Dr. Sarkar, the latter’s admiration for the former soon ripened into a kind of worship.
More than two months passed, but there was no sign of improvement. On the contrary the condition of the Master gradually deteriorated from bad to worse. When treatment proved ineffectual, Dr. Sarkar advised a change to a garden-house outside the city.
Accordingly, a spacious garden-house at Cossipore was hired. In the afternoon of December 11, 1885, Sri Ramakrishna was moved to the new premises.
The Cossipore garden became the place for the last phase of Sri Ramakrishna’s life on the physical plane. On the eve of his exit from the arena of the world, Sri Ramakrishna revealed his highest spiritual stage and made Narendra Nath the fit instrument for the propagation of his ideas. He entrusted with Narendra Nath the charge of his flock.
Soon after arriving at Cossipore, the boys divided among themselves the task of cooking, purchases, and other household duties. The Holy Mother had the charge of preparing the food as well as feeding the Master.
Narendra was the leader of the young disciples. When they were not occupied in the service of the Master, he would bring them together and engage them in meditation, study, discussions, or songs. They, thus kept themselves occupied in a delightful environment, and time passed unnoticed. Though the number of these sacrificing youth did not exceed twelve, yet every one of them, by the consecration of his life to the service of the Guru, emerged as a tower of strength.
At this time occurred an event of great importance; showing Sri Ramakrishna’s wonderful love for his devotees and his extraordinary spiritual power. It was January 1, 1886. Sri Ramakrishna felt much better and wished to take a walk in the garden. lt was about 3 pm. As it was a holiday, about thirty disciples were present, some in the hall and others under the trees. When Sri Ramakrishna came down, those in the hall saluted him and followed him at a distance as he walked slowly towards the gate. Sri Ramakrishna suddenly said to Girish Chandra Ghosh, (one of his ardent devotees) “Well, Girish, what have you found in me that you proclaim me before all as an Incarnation?” Girish, not at all taken aback by the question, knelt before him with folded hands and said in a voice shaken with emotion, “What can an insignificant creature like me say about One whose glory even sages like Vyasa and Valmiki could not measure?” Hearing these words, spoken with the greatest intensity, Sri Ramakrishna was deeply moved and said: “What more shall I say? I bless you all! Be illumined!” Saying this he fell into a state of semi-consciousness. The devotees heard these solemn words and turned mad with joy. Overwhelmed with emotion they moved forward to take the dust of his feet and saluted him. At this manifestation of devotion, Sri Ramakrishna’s mercy overstepped its bounds and he touched them all, one by one, with appropriate blessings. This powerful touch revolutionized their minds, and the devotees, so blessed by the Master, had wonderful spiritual experiences. They, upon coming down from that state of spiritual exaltation, realized that, like a ‘Kalpataru’ (the celestial wish fulfilling tree) Sri Ramakrishna was showering his grace upon all without distinction.
Sri Ramakrishna, knowing his end to be very near, was busy preparing his chief disciple, Narendra Nath, for the great task he was bound to take up in the coming years. One day, Sri Ramakrishna commissioned him to look after the young devotees, saying, “I leave them in your care. See that they practise spiritual exercises and do not return home”. He was thus silently training them for the monastic life; and one day he asked Narendra and other young men to beg their food in the streets. They all went out with begging bowls in hand.
One day, a devotee expressed his desire to Sri Ramakrishna to distribute ochre cloths and Rudraksha rosaries among sannyasins. Pointing to his young disciples, Sri Ramakrishna answered, “You won’t find better monks than these anywhere. Give your clothes and things to them”. The devotee placed a bundle of ochre clothes before the Master, who distributed them among his young disciples. One evening Sri Ramakrishna made them go through a ceremony and permitted them to receive food from the houses of all irrespective of caste. Thus it was that the disciples were initiated into the monastic order by Sri Ramakrishna himself, and the foundation of the future Ramakrishna Order was laid.
In the meanwhile Sri Ramakrishna was sinking daily; his body was worn to a skeleton, and his diet was reduced to a minimum. All this grieved the devotees. They knew now that they were going to lose the great mainstay of their lives. When the pain was excruciating, Sri Ramakrishna would only whisper with a smile, “Let the body and its pain take care of each other, thou, my mind, be always in bliss!”
The devotees, however, begged him to ask the Divine Mother to make his body last; but he gazed at them tenderly and said, “How can I ask Her for anything when my will is entirely merged in Hers?” In spite of failing strength the Master continued his spiritual work.
About eight or nine days before his passing, Sri Ramakrishna asked one of his disciples, Yogin, to read to him from the Bengali almanac the dates from the twenty-fifth Shravana (9th August) onwards. Yogin read until he came to the last day (15th August) of the month. Sri Ramakrishna then made a sign that he did not want to hear any more.
Four or five days after this, Sri Ramakrishna called Narendra to his side. There was nobody else in the room. He made Narendra sit before him and gazing at him fell into Samadhi. Narendra felt a subtle force like an electric shock penetrating his body. Gradually he too lost outward consciousness. He did not remember how long he sat there. When he came to normal consciousness, he found Sri Ramakrishna in tears. The Master said to him, “Today I have given you all and have become a Fakir! Through this power you will do immense good to the world, and then only you shall go back”. In this way Sri Ramakrishna passed on his powers to Narendra; henceforth the Master and the disciple became one soul.
A couple of days later the idea entered Narendra’s mind of testing Sri Ramakrishna’s statement that he was an Incarnation. He said to himself, “If in the midst of this dreadful physical pain he can declare his Godhead, then I shall believe him”. Strange to say, the moment this thought came to him, Sri Ramakrishna summoning all his energy said distinctly, “He who was Rama and Krishna, is now Ramakrishna in this body, but not in your Vedantic sense!” Narendra was stricken with shame and remorse for having doubted his Master even after so many revelations.
At last the eventful day arrived, a day of intense grief for the devotees. It was Sunday, August 15, 1886, the last day of Shravana. Sri Ramakrishna’s suffering was at its highest. The devotees wept in grief. They stood by the bed-side of their Master. In the evening he suddenly fell into Samadhi. The body became stiff. There was something about this Samadhi which struck them as unusual, and he began to weep. After midnight Sri Ramakrishna regained consciousness.
Then Sri Ramakrishna in a clear voice uttered thrice the name of Kali and gently lay down. Suddenly at two minutes past one, a thrill passed through his divine body, making the hair stand on end. The eyes became fixed on the tip of the nose and the face was lit up with a smile. Sri Ramakrishna entered into Mahasamadhi. Thus in the early hours of Monday, the 16th of August 1860, Sri Ramakrishna departed from the world, leaving behind a host of grief-stricken devotees and admirers.
At five p.m. the sacred body was brought down and laid on a cot. It was dressed in ochre cloth and decorated with sandal- paste and flowers. An hour later, the body was carried to the burning ghat at Cossipore, to the accompaniment of devotional music. Spectators shed tears as they saw the solemn procession pass. The body was placed on the funeral pyre, and within a couple of hours everything was finished.
A calm resignation came to the devotees as they prepared to leave the cremation ground, for they all realized Sri Ramakrishna’s eternal presence within. He, their Lord, was the same in the disembodied state as in the physical life. According to his own words, he had passed from one chamber to another, that was all. They put the sacred relics of Sri Ramakrishna’s body into an urn and returned to the Cossipore garden, shouting “JAI BHAGWAN RAMAKRISHNA!” (Victory to Bhagavan Ramakrishna!)