MORE MIRACLES

 In the first part of this essay, nine of the lesser known miracles of Shri Ramakrishna have been studied. In this section, we take up some more of these miracles performed not only by the Master himself but also by Ma Sarada and Swami Vivekananda through whom also the Master's powers operated.

2. Regarding Shri Shri Ma, the Master himself made the position clear through many utterances such as this one to Galap-Ma (a woman devotee of the Master who was an "Antaranga" of the Mother');

" Bestower of knowledge is she, born with uncommon sagacity. She is no ordinary person - She is my Shakti." Again, after the Sodoshipuja (worship of Ma Sarada as Divine Shakti) the Master's final offering was - himself. He offered up the fruit of all his Sadhanas together with his rosary at her feet. Shri Shri Ma herself said: "What is Shri Ramakrishna that I am." So, a miraculous act by the Mother is equally a miracle of Shri Ramakrishna. Hence it was teh Master himself who set the ball rolling when a lady ( wife of Kalipada Ghosh), who at that time regarded Shri Ramakrishna no more than Sadhu with yogic powers, approached him. Her prayer was that the Master prescribe some 'Medicine' to cure her wayward husband of his evil ways which had blighted her married life and rid him of the unwholesome friends who had led him astray. The Master surprisingly did not rebuff her but said " You better appeal to the lady who stays in the Nahabat: if you explain frankly your predicament to her, she will give you the right medicine. She knows all about these miraculous remedies and in such matters she has even greater powers that I"; Shri Shri Ma was then approached and gave a patient hearing to the lady, concluded that teh Master was playing a game and told the lady that it was the Master who knew about such medicine and she must press him for it. The poor woman was thus tossed from one to the other three times when the Mother's kind heart melted and, maybe, to remove here immediate distress she picked up a 'Bel' leaf that had been offered in puja and gave it to her saying, "my child, take this; it will bring about what you wish". The result of this blessing of the Mother is now a leaf in the history of the Ramakrishna movement. How the 'Dana' (terrible) Kali was in due course converted into one of the brightest gems in the string of the Master's devotees has been recorded in the 'Punthi' as also in Swami Gambhirananda's essay on Kalipada Ghosh in his 'Bhakta Malika' (Garland of Devotees)

3. Now, Vivekananda. We have noticed earlier that the Master had declared categorically that he and Naren were non- different. The sole witness of the strange behaviour of the Master towards Naren on that occasion, Vaikuntha Sanyal, has recorded the Master saying to Naren:

" What I see is that I am this body and I am also that body. It is true, I see no difference .... What ignorance! Are you and I different? This is I and that is also I".

We also know of the Master's offer to transfer to Naren all his occult powers and Naren's refusal to accept these. But the matter did not ed there. The powers did get transferred. This is how Christopher Isherwood describes the process of transfer, vide Ramakrishna and His Disciples:

" ..... Ramakrishna summoned Naren to him. There was no one else in the room. Gazing fixedly at Naren he passed in Samadhi. Naren felt a force somewhat like an electric current was taking possession of his body; Slowly he lost consciousness. When he came to himself again he found Ramakrishna weeping. "Oh, Naren, " he said " I've given you everything I have - and now I am a beggar! But these powers I have handed over to you will make you able to do great things in this world. When all that is accomplished you can go back where you came from". 

But these inherited (?) powers were used by Swamiji for the good of humanity only He had said so specifically to the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Lion of Chicago whose hospitality was accepted by Swamiji quite often during his stay in America. This young lady had got interested in Indian religious practices and with the help of someone had quickly made some progress and had acquired the power of visualising the face of the writer of any letter she might hold in her hand. After about a year Swamiji came yo know of it when he was again a guest of the Lions. He told Miss Lion that he had also possessed miraculous powers but Shri Ramakrishna had cautioned him never to use these powers except for the general benefit of people at large.

4. With this brief introduction, let us now get on with the miracles themselves and start with a cameo from the Mother.