Gurudev!’ – 3

Pujya Gurudev Pt. ShriRam Sharma’s Kripa 

                            ‘I surrender myself to you, Gurudev!’ – 3

                                       (Akhand Jyoti July-Aug.2010)

Practicing different kinds of Sadhanas of various spiritual traditions and mastering them - was an unprecedented experiment of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa. When he started the worship of Shri Rama, he began to behave like Hanuman, and uttering the sacred name of Rama- Raghuveer, he would climb onto trees, pluck fruits, bite into them and throw them away. He stopped the sadhana only after reaching a state in which he could see Rama in every creature and in every atom of the universe.

Once he started the worship of Shri Krishna through Sakhi-bhav. Those who worship Shri Krishna with this feeling begin to see themselves as Gopis and dress like women. Ramakrishna also began to do sadhana in a similar manner. To blend into the form of Krishna’s ‘Sakhi’, he grew his hair and plaited it. He also began to wear a nose ring, applied lampblack to his eyes, applied vermillion and decorated himself with lipstick. In deep states of trance, he would begin to call out loudly- ‘Where is Lalita? Where is Vishakha? I am in a pitiable state. Without your grace, I cannot see Radhika and without her, I cannot reach Sri Krishna’. 

While doing this sadhana as per ‘Sakhi Sampradaya’, Sri Ramakrishna began to develop feminine changes in his physical body. His voice began to turn sweet and soft. Nobody could recognize him on hearing his voice. After a few days, even his gait changed. There developed breast-like swellings on his chest and his footsteps were laid softly and carefully like a woman. This state of sadhana is evidence that when someone performs worship with complete involvement and passion, the entire personality including the physical features undergoes transformation. After stopping the sadhana, with ‘Sakhi bhav’, it took months for Thakurji to regain his normalcy. 

After having tried the path of devotion, he began the sadhana of Vedanta. The pinnacle of this sadhana is to reach the state of ‘Soham’ and ‘Aham Brahmasmi’. He also tried the sadhanas related to various traditions like –Tantric, Bangala, Baul, Vaishnav, Shakta etc. After having done sadhanas belonging to several traditions, he had the concrete realization that even though the paths look different, there is no difference at the fundamental level of the goals. He took initiation into the Khalsa Panth and understood its underlying principles. One day, a thought arose in him to understand what the difference between a Hindu and Muslim was and decided to find out.

He took permission of his favorite deity Mother Bhavani to do the experiment on himself. There lived a Sufi saint in the village of Tamtama. He went to the Sufi saint and took initiation into the Sufi way of sadhana for himself. After doing the sadhana for 3 days, his entire demeanor changed. He ceased to identify himself as a Hindu. He stopped going to the temple and even refrained from partaking the prasad of Mother Kali. During those days of sadhana, somebody said that according to Islam, if one kills a non-Muslim, then he would attain heaven. He asked Ramakrishna if he would kill a non-Muslim. 

Ramakrishna replied, ‘Kafir (non-Muslim) does not reside outside, but is within us. Anger, lust, greed, pride etc are the foreign elements within our being. Only when you destroy them can you obtain the grace of Allah. Only knowledge and power give peace to man. There can be no other beauty or apsara who can give him continuous pleasure and peace.’ He also tried the path of Christian form of worship and sadhana. After having learnt and understood the secrets of various paths of worship, he got rooted firmly in his own nature. The liberated souls do not have an independent nature of their own. They are so entirely submerged in the consciousness of the Supreme Soul that their ego-based identity becomes acutely sensitive and transparent. Based on the temperament and level of the sadhak who approaches them, they appear to the sadhak at the same level. They become like a mirror, a crystal idol that merely reflects the form and color of what is present in front of them. 

Thanks GOD,Thanks Sadguru,

Shiv Sharma