A Short Life of Holy Mother
A Short Life of Holy Mother
OF
THE HOLY MOTHER
SWAMI PAVITRANANDA
(Publication Department)
5 DEHI ENTALLY ROAD
CALCUTTA 700 014
PREFACE
Beloved Mother,
Nivedita
A LETTER BY SISTER NIVEDITA
TO THE HOLY MOTHER
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
III
MARRIAGE
1
A type of carriage borne on the shoulders of bear-
ers.
22 THE HOLY MOTHER
1
A very small two-storeyed building, close to Sri
Ramakrishna’s room, the upper storey of which was
intended for temple music.
24 THE HOLY MOTHER
Sri Ramakrishna.
One day the Master actually sent a young
boy—Sarada, afterwards Swami Trigunatita-
nanda—to the Holy Mother for spiritual initia-
tion, quoting a Vaishnava couplet which says that
Radha is infinitely more powerful than Sri
Krishna.
The chief trait in the character of Sri Rama-
krishna, according to the Holy Mother, was
renunciation. People generally say that his great-
est achievement was the harmonization of all
faiths. But this paled into insignificance, in the
opinion of his life-companion, when compared
with his spirit of renunciation. But her own
renunciation was just as great. One day a rich
Marwari devotee proposed to put a big amount
in the bank to the credit of Sri Ramakrishna so
that he might not have any financial worry about
his needs. Sri Ramakrishna was perturbed at the
very proposal as if it was an abysmal fall from
the ideal to which he was pledged. When hard
pressed by the devotee to accept the money, the
Master, just to test the Holy Mother ’s mind, had
her brought there and proposed that the money
might be kept in her name if she agreed. She also
adamantly refused the offer as that would be tan-
tamount to the acceptance of the money by the
Master himself. Sri Ramakrishna was so glad to
see her sensitiveness to the ideal!
47
FORESHADOWING THE FUTURE
bracelets. But one day there too she saw the vision
of the Master. At this experience she shook off all
fear of public criticism, and henceforth she wore
simple bracelets on her hands and used a narrow-
bordered cloth for her wearing apparel.
After the demise of the Master, some devo-
tees proposed that the establishment at Cossipore
should be broken up immediately. But Naren and
the other young disciples objected as that would
be an additional shock to the Mother. So the
establishment remained there for some days
more, till August 21, when the Holy Mother went
to stay at the house of Balaram Bose, the great
devotee of the Master. There was some trouble
and misunderstanding between the sannyasin
and householder disciples as regards the posses-
sion of the relics of the Master. When the news
reached the Holy Mother she remarked: ‘Such a
unique person is gone. But they are quarrelling
over his ashes!’
X
TRIALS AND SUFFERINGS
1
Where the Ramakrishna Math was located prior
to shifting to the new Math grounds at Belur Math.
IN CALCUTTA AND JAYRAMBATI 63
1
Typical behaviour of a traditional Hindu mother.
THE ALL-LOVING MOTHER 79