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Healing Through Faith and Love - A Case Study of Sri Ramakrishna

 

 

It is a little known fact that actors in Bengali theatre, prior to

entering the stage, bow down before the image of an unshaved,

rustic-looking, middle-aged man, who is now unofficially the patron

deity of all dramatic performance in the region. It becomes all the

more intriguing when we realize that the gentleman in question was an

unlettered individual who was never formally related to theatre and

saw only a few plays during his own lifetime.

 

The story of how this came to be about begins on February 28, 1844,

with the birth of a boy named Girish at Calcutta. Girish lost his

mother when he was eleven and his father at fourteen.

>From his boyhood, he was a voracious reader but left school since he

found the formal atmosphere detrimental to the process of learning.

Without the restraining hand of a loving guardian, Girish's life

drifted into drunkenness, debauchery, waywardness and obstinacy. He

had to earn his living through a succession of office jobs, which he

found thoroughly boring. His spare time was devoted to the theatre,

both as playwright and performer. He was, in fact, a bohemian artist.

An early marriage proved unable to stabilize his lifestyle and his

wife passed away when he was thirty. Thus did he lose his mother in

childhood, father in boyhood and wife in early manhood.

 

For the next fifteen years he worked in various capacities in

different offices. He continued to indulge his appetites but also

remained devoted to writing and acting. In his late thirties, he had

already begun to be recognized as the father of modern Bengali drama.

He was single-handedly revitalizing the revival of theatre by

producing a vast body of dramatic work in the Bengali language, and at

the same time was molding the first generation of actors and actresses

by leading from the front; in fact, such was his versatility that he

often played two or three roles in the same play. In 1883, the Star

Theatre was opened in Calcutta with his money; this later developed

into an active center for the evolution of Bengali drama.

 

In Girish's case, talent and licentiousness gradually achieved a state

of peaceful co-existence. He himself sized up his personality as

follows: 'from my early boyhood I was molded in a different way. I

never learned to walk a straight path. I always preferred a crooked

way. From childhood it had been my nature to do the very thing I was

forbidden to do.'

 

Skepticism

 

The course of Girish's tumultuous life continued till he read one day

about a holy personality who was living in the famous shrine of

Goddess Kali (Dakshineshwar) near Calcutta.

 

A skeptical Girish, without ever having met the sage, concluded that

he was probably a fake. However, soon after he heard that the guru

would be visiting his neighborhood and decided to see him firsthand.

It was nearing sunset when Girish reached the place, and lamps were

being brought into the room. Yet the ascetic kept asking, "Is it

evening?" This confirmed Girish's earlier opinion, 'what pretentious

play-acting, it is dusk, lights are burning in front of him, yet he

cannot tell whether it is evening or not' thus murmuring under his

breath and not recognizing the saint's super conscious stage, he left

the premises. Thus was the first impression of Girish Chandra Ghosh,

the father of modern Bengali theatre, regarding Sri Ramakrishna, the

beloved saint and priest of one of India's most renowned Kali temples.

 

Some years later, Girish saw the holy man again, at the house of a

common acquaintance. In his own words: 'after reaching there, I found

that the sage had already arrived and a dancing girl was seated by his

side and singing devotional hymns. Quite a large gathering had

assembled in the room. Suddenly my eyes were opened to a new vision by

the holy man's conduct. I used to think that those who consider

themselves param-yogis or gurus do not speak with anybody. They do not

salute anybody. If strongly urged they allow others to serve them. But

his behavior was quite different.

 

With the utmost humility he was showing respect to everybody by bowing

his head on the ground. An old friend of mine, pointing at him, said

sarcastically: "The dancing girl seems to have a previous intimacy

with him. That's why he is laughing and joking with her." But I did

not like these insinuations. Just then, another of my friends said, "I

have had enough of this, let's go."' Girish went with him. He had half

wanted to stay, but was too embarrassed to admit this, even to

himself.

 

Lessons in Humility

 

Only a few days after this, on September 21, 1884, the saint and some

of his devotees visited the Star Theatre, to see a play based on the

life of the great Vaishnava devotee Shri Chaitanya, authored and

directed by Girish. The latter reminisced: 'I was strolling in the

outer compound of the theatre one day when a disciple of Sri

Ramakrishna came up to me and said: "The guru has come to see the

play. If you will allow him a free pass, well and good. Otherwise we

will buy a ticket for him." I replied: "He will not have to purchase

the ticket. But others will have to." Saying this, I proceeded to

greet him. I found him alighting from the carriage and entering the

compound of the theatre. I wanted to salute him, but before I could do

so he saluted me. I returned his greeting. He saluted me again. I

bowed my head and he did the same to me. I thought this might continue

forever, so I let him perform the last salute (which I answered

mentally) and led him upstairs to his seat in the box.'

 

This was Girish's third meeting with Ramakrishna; but his intellect

continued to refuse to accept another human being as a guru. This is

how he reasoned: 'after all, the guru is a man. The disciple also is a

man. Why should one man stand before another with folded palms and

follow him like a slave? But time after time in the presence of Sri

Ramakrishna my pride crumbled into dust. Meeting me at the theatre, he

had first saluted me. How could my pride remain in the presence of

such a humble man? The memory of his humility created an indelible

impression on my mind.'

 

Three days later, Girish was sitting on the porch of a friend's house

when he saw Ramakrishna approaching along the street: 'No sooner had I

turned my eyes towards him than he saluted me. I returned it. He

continued on his way. For no accountable reason my heart felt drawn

towards him by an invisible string. I felt a strong urge to follow

him. Just then, a person brought to me a message from him and said:

"Sri Ramakrishna is calling you." I went. He was seated with a number

of devotees around him. As soon as I sat down I asked the following

question:

 

"What is a guru?"

 

"A guru is like the matchmaker who arranges for the union of the bride

with his bridegroom. Likewise a guru prepares for the meeting of the

individual soul with his beloved, the Divine Spirit." Actually, Sri

Ramakrishna did not use the word matchmaker, but a slang expression,

which left a more forceful impression. Then he said: "You need not

worry, your guru has already been chosen."

 

Girish, however, was a complex personality: a mixture of shyness,

aggression, humility and arrogance. Although in one corner of his

heart he did believe that Ramakrishna was the guru who he had hoped

for, another part of his old self revolted against the idea. On

December 14th of the same year, the playwright was in his dressing

room when a devotee came up to inform him of Ramakrishna's arrival.

"All right," Girish said rather haughtily, "take him to the box and

give him a seat."

 

 

Please read the entire article at:

 

Article of the Month - July 2005

 

http://www.exoticindia.com/article/ramakrishna

 

Jaya Sri Radhey!

 

, pyari_h <no_reply> wrote:

 

> Here is an excerpt from a reply given by Osho about compassion and

> forgiveness:

>

> If your meditations bring you to the state of a rain cloud, you

will

> forgive without any judgment out of your abundance, out of your

love,

> out of your compassion.

>

> In fact I would like to make the statement that the man who is

> unworthy deserves more than the man who is worthy. The man who does

> not deserve, deserves more, because he is so poor; don't be hard

upon

> him. Life has been hard upon him. He has gone astray; he has

suffered

> because of his wrong doings.

>

> Now don't you be hard on him. He needs more love than those who are

> deserving; he needs more forgiveness than those who are worthy.

This

> should be the only approach of a religious heart.

>

> This question was raised before Gautam Buddha, because he was going

> to initiate a murderer into sannyas -- and the murderer was no

> ordinary murderer. His name was Angulimal. Angulimal means a man

who

> wears a garland of human fingers.

>