Sarada Devi and Sara Bull - Part 4

The Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi was the very backbone, nay even the foundation and pillar of the Ramakrishna movement. Holy Mother and Sri Ramakrishna are regarded as one and the same by all the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. Sri Ramakrishna Himself has proclaimed that he was in her and she was in him – as Shiva and Shakti. So to classify her as spiritual consort of Sri Ramakrishna as many of the scholars and academicians have done, would be singularly wrong because a consortium is an association of two or more individuals for a common purpose. Ramakrishna and the Holy Mother are one and inseparable, not two individuals in spiritual sense. After Sri Ramakrishna left His body it was left on Holy Mother to carry on the mission in a different way, through the practical demonstration of the motherhood of God. She took the reins of a fledgling organization indirectly, without imposing herself in any way. Yet the Holy Mother’s words were final in all matters. One of the reasons for her absolute sway over the movement was her unconditional and unbounded love for all. She could make herself completely hidden and still became the dominant force behind the movement keeping Swami Vivekananda, Swami Brahmananda, Swami Saradananda and others in the forefront. Her decisions in every matter were final and yet they were never authoritative. We remember how she reinstated a servant who was driven away by Swamiji on charges of theft from Math, how she gently but firmly helped in reversing Swamiji’s decision of selling the Math to cater to the exigencies of the plague relief, how she pleaded with Mahapurush Maharaj to take back a Brahmachari who was supposedly expelled, how she helped Ramakrishna Mission to tide over the major crisis of the ire of the British Government when Lord Carmichael made a public denouncement of Mission’s alleged links with freedom fighters, how she rebuked the head of an ashrama over his request to penalize young novices who did not listen to him, her decision to prevent any bloodshed in the Math during Durga Puja overriding Swamiji’s decision of animal sacrifice, her staunch support of Swamiji’s decision to stop worshipping Ramakrishna’s image in Advaita Ashrama in Mayavati, and last but not the least her silencing of all critics of the Ramakrishna Mission’s charitable works. This last bit was very important in the history of the Ramakrishna movement. Without her stamp of approval it would have caused a lot of misunderstanding among the different disciples of Sri Ramakrishna regarding the nature of the work prescribed by Swamiji for the Ramakrishna Mission monks. “M” or Mahendranath Gupta, the venerable author of the Gospel was one of the critics of the Mission’s relief and service works based on Sri Ramakrishna’s words. He often cited the quotes of Sri Sri Thakur which ostensibly was against establishing hospitals and dispensaries and thus egoistically participating in welfare activities in lieu of sincere efforts for God realization. However though “M” was spiritually one of the most advanced souls, he saw Sri Ramakrishna through one prism, whereas Swamiji saw him as an infinite ocean of different ideals. Therefore Swamiji had advocated one of the important means of practicing Vedanta for householders and monks alike, of serving the living manifestation of God, the human beings, selflessly. Through selfless work impurities of the mind goes away and the ego dissolves and then the realization of the Supreme Truth dawns. Sri Sarada Devi was the very embodiment of this principle in the most practical sense, therefore she understood the importance of this path and on more than one occasion she most vociferously supported endeavours and silenced the critics, always through a gesture of love rather than through denunciations.  When she visited the Varanasi sevashrama she said firmly that Sri Sri Thakur was established there and was accepting service through innumerable poor patients, and she contributed Rs 10/- as token of her appreciation. When “M” heard this incident all his doubts disappeared as he knew that the Holy Mother’s approval meant the approval of Sri Ramakrishna.

Swami Premananda said about the Mother, “Glory to the Mother. The poison which we are unable to neutralize, we are sending to the mother. She is drawing everyone to her lap. Limitless is her power and compassion. She is granting refuge to all, partaking of everyone’s offerings and everything is being digested”. [i] Swami Vivekananda in a letter in 1895 to Swami Shivananda and his brother disciples had declared her as the “living Durga” and clearly articulated that his life’s mission was to first establish a centre for the mother and her daughters. He was therefore one of the first to establish the supremacy of Holy Mother above everyone else in the Ramakrishna Order. Mother’s chief burden bearers Swami Yogananda and Swami Saradananda were living testimonies of devotion to the mother and her work, including their wholehearted service to support her worldly responsibilities. The Holy Mother brought about transformation of many a devotees. Girish Chandra Ghosh was a notable example whose waywardness was dispelled under the influence of Sri Ramakrishna but nevertheless at a very critical stage of his life when he lost his family members and fortune, he came to know the mother through Swami Niranjanananda who was another staunch devotee of the mother. Girish came to believe that mother was none other than the divine mother of the universe and once he realized this his devotion to the mother could not be surpassed. The mother gave refuge to the freedom fighters who embraced spiritual life, despite the misgivings of some of the devotees out of fear of retribution from the British Government. She had to pay price of being kept under surveillance but eventually her motherly affection and her farsightedness and immense practicality won. All the troubles dissipated. Mother was stern if situation needed to be. She did not hesitate to banish one of her devoted disciples from the Ramakrishna order on account of violation of the vow of sannyas. She broke the rural customs of caste distinction and was penalized by the orthodoxy but she never compromised with truth.

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[i] The Compassionate Mother by Brahmachari Akshaya Chaitanya, page 250, Advaita Ashrama