Some Glimpses of Ramakrishna-Part IV (Continued)

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Sri Ramakrishna's weight and height were not officially recorded. Swami Nirvana-nanda, Vice-President (1966-1984) of the Ramakrishna Order, however, in providing guidance to a sculptor who was preparing a marble image of Sri Ramakrishna installed in May 1951 at Ramakrishna's birthplace in Kamarpukur, calculated that the Master was 5 feet 9 1/4 inches tall. The swami made this calculation on the basis of the length of a coat of Sri Ramakrishna, now preserved at Belur Math. This is the coat the Master wore in his studio picture taken at Radhabazar, Calcutta. By measuring the coat and calculating the relation of the coat to the figure, Swami Nirvanananda established Ramakrishna's height.

So far as we know Ramakrishna was not ill very often. Occasionally he suffered from dysentery, fever, cold and cough; he finally succumbed to throat cancer.

Sometimes the Master would go for a walk in Shambhu Mallick's or Jadu Mallick's garden in Dakshineswar. M. recalled:

'When the Master visited Jadu Mallick's garden, the caretaker of the garden would fan him. Seeing his devotion, the Master once went into samadhi. One day the caretaker invited the Master for lunch and he accepted. The Master went to his place accompanied by Rakhal Maharaj, me, and a young brahmin boy from Orissa [who was M.'s cook]. Perhaps he would not have accepted if any rich man had invited him.'11 The Master's samadhi was so unpredictable that he needed someone always with him; for otherwise there was a chance of his having an accident. One day in an ecstatic mood, he had a vision of Jagannath. While trying to embrace Him, the Master fell down and broke his arm. M. also said, 'While listening to the temple music (rasun chauki) being played at the nahabat, the Master would go into samadhi.' 'The Master would merge into samadhi seeing a person closing an umbrella. It reminded him of withdrawing the mind from the world and giving it to God.' M. also recorded:

'It was a winter morning, and the Master was sitting near the east door of his room, wrapped in his moleskin shawl. He looked at the sun and suddenly went into samadhi. His eyes stopped blinking and he lost all consciousness of the outer world. After a long time he came down to the plane of the sense world.'

Swami Ambikananda told the following incident, which he heard from his mother, Nistarini Ghosh, a devotee of the Master:

'The Master one day said to my mother, "Put on some jewellery like that of the Mother in the temple." My mother did what the Master told her. One day she went to Dakshineswar and saw the Master seated on his bed in samadhi. When she bowed down to him, her bangles made some noise. Immediately the Master was startled and his samadhi broke. He cried out: "What is this? Why are you making so much noise? The soul of a person who has left his body and merged into the Divine might not be able to return to his body. When I go into samadhi, I keep a thread between this body and the Cosmic Being, just as a very fine wire connects two things. If the connecting thread breaks by some noise I shall not be able return to this body." From then on, when my mother visited the Master, she would hold the jewellery with her hands.'

About the author

The author is the Minister-in-charge of the Vedanta Society of St. Louis, USA. He is well-known for his numerous books in Bengali and English particularly God Lived With Them and They Lived With God. His recent English translation of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Leelaprasanga titled Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play has received wide acclaim.

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