Elixir from Ramakrishna Kothamrito

 

Na jayate mriyate va kedachin na yam bhutva

bhavita va na bhuyah,

Ajo nityah sashvato yam purano na hanyate

hanyamane sarire. (Gita 2:20)

[The Atman is neither born nor does it die.

Coming into being and ceasing to be do not take

place in it. Unborn, eternal, constant and ancient,

it is not killed when the body is slain.]

Is it suicide if a liberated person terminates his life?

Vijaykrishna Goswami has come to see

Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna in the Kali Temple at

Dakshineswar. He is accompanied by three or

four Brahmo bhaktas. It is the month of

Agrahayana, the fourth day of the bright

fortnight, Thursday, 14 December 1882. These

people have come from Calcutta by boat with

Balaram, the great devotee of the Paramahansa

Deva. Sri Ramakrishna at that time was resting

for a while at midday. It is on Sundays that

people come in large numbers. However, bhaktas

who want to have personal talk with him usually

come on other days.

The Paramahansa Deva is seated on the wooden

cot. Vijay, Balaram, M. and some other bhaktas

are sitting on a mat while others are seated on the

bare floor in front of Thakur facing west.

Bhagirathi (the Ganga) is seen from the western

door of the room. Winter time waters of

Bhagirathi are steady and limpid. Just beyond the

door is the western semi-circular verandah.

Beyond it are the flower gardens followed by the

embankment. Along the western side of the

embankment flows the holy Ganga, redeemer of

the sins, as if washing joyfully the feet of the

temple of the Lord.

It is winter, so all are clad in woollen clothes.

Vijay is suffering from acute colic pain, so he

has brought medicine with him in a small glass

bottle. He will take the medicine when due.

Nowadays Vijay is a paid preacher in the

Sadharan Brahmo Samaj. He has to deliver

sermons from the pulpit of the Samaj. So, he has

controversies with the Samaj on different matters

these days. He has accepted the assignment, so

he is helpless. He is not free to act and express

his independent views. Vijay comes from a very

pious family from

the family of Advaita

Goswami. Advaita Goswami was a jnani. He

meditated upon the formless Brahman and at the

same time he showed the highest excellence of

bhakti. He was a chief intimate disciple of

Bhagavan Chaitanya Deva. He used to dance

mad in the love of Hari. When he danced he

would lose his entity so much that even the cloth

that he was wearing would slip down. Vijay too

has joined the Brahmo Samaj. Here he meditates

on the formless Para Brahman. But the blood of

the great bhakta Advaita Goswami, his ancestor,

flows through his veins. So, the seed of Hari’s

love lies ready to sprout within him, only the

right time is awaited. That is why he has been

charmed on seeing the state of Bhagavan Sri

Ramakrishna of being deep drunk in the divine

love for Hari, the state that is rare even amongst

gods. Just as the snake charmed by the music

keeps sitting beside the snake charmer, Vijay too

charmed by the Bhagavata (divine words)

issuing out of the hallowed lips of the

Paramahansa Deva keeps sitting by his side. And

when he dances like a child in the love of Hari,

Vijay too dances with him.

Vishnu’s house is in Ariadaha, he has committed

suicide by cutting his throat with a knife. Today

his topic comes up first.

Sri Ramakrishna (to Vijay, M. and other bhaktas)

— See, this boy has terminated his life. When I

heard it, I felt very bad. He used to come here, he

was a schoolboy but he would often say that he

had no liking for the world. He had lived with

some relatives for a few days in the West (in the

west of Bengal, i.e. Uttar Pradesh or Punjab etc.).

He would occasionally meditate sitting in some

solitary plain, forest or hill. He used to tell me

that he had strange visions of various forms of

the Lord.

“I believe that it was his last birth. In his

previous birth he had done much of the work,

some was left undone. It appears that he

accomplished that much in this life.

“One must believe in the sanskaras[1] of the

previous lives. They say that a man was

practising shava sadhana (spiritual discipline on

a corpse). Seated in a deep forest he was

worshipping Bhagavati (the Divine Mother). But

he started having frightful visions and in the end
 a tiger carried him away. There was another man

who had climbed up a nearby tree for fear of the

tiger. Seeing a dead body and ready

arrangements for worship he came down, took

some holy water and sat on the corpse. He had

performed only a little japa when Bhagavati

appeared before him and said, ‘I am pleased with

you. Ask for a boon.’ Paying obeisance at the

lotus feet of the Mother, he said, ‘Mother, I just

ask you one thing. I am amazed at Your action.

After making so many arrangements, this man

had been practising sadhana laboriously for so

many days, but You did not bless him. On the

other hand, I know nothing, hear nothing, never

repeat Your name, nor practise any spiritual

discipline, have no spiritual knowledge, no

bhakti still

I am receiving so much of Your

grace!’ Bhagavati laughed as she said, ‘Child,

you don’t remember your past lives. You did

sadhana for Me during so many births. It is

because of the strength of that sadhana that all

these things were arranged for you, it is also for

that reason that you are blessed with My vision.

Now speak out, what boon do you want?’

A bhakta says, “I feel frightened to hear of the

suicide.”

Sri Ramakrishna — Suicide is a great sin, one

will have to return to this world again and again

and suffer its trials and tribulations.

“Even so if a person terminates his life after

having the vision of the Lord, it is not suicide.

There is no harm in giving up the body that way.

Some people terminate their lives after attaining

jnana. When a gold image has been cast in an

earthen mould, the mould may be preserved, or

may be cracked and thrown away.

“Many years ago, a boy used to come here from

Barahnagar. He was about twenty years old. His

name was Gopal Sen. When he would come

here, he used to experience such deep emotions

that Hriday had to hold him later

he fell and

broke his limbs. The boy suddenly touched my

feet and said, ‘Sir, I shall not be able to come

here any more. So I take your leave.’ A few days

later I heard that he had given up his body.