Gauri-ma

This is the nineteenth story in the series on devotees who had a role in the divine play of Bhagawan Sri Ramakrishna.

- DR. RUCHIRA MITRA

यमेवैष वृणुते तेन लभ्यः

It is attained by him alone whom It chooses (Kathopanishad. 1.2:23)

Calcutta: 1882. A guest sannyasini at Balaram Bose’s house in Baghbazar was absorbed in the worship of her Ishta-devata Damodar Shila (a saligram representing Lord Vishnu). She sang softly with intense devotion, her gentle face radiant and blissful, as she bathed the deity. Then she lovingly wiped the saligram and was about to place it on the asana, when she saw a pair of luminous human feet on the throne! Nonplussed, she rubbed her eyes and looked intently, but the feet were still there.

She tried offering tulsi leaves to Damodar again and again, but they fell on those luminous feet alone. Finally, she collapsed. After a few hours when she regained partial consciousness, she felt someone was tugging at a string tied to her heart and clutched her chest in discomfort. Restless and uneasy, she passed one whole day and night in a semiconscious state.

Sometime prior to this, her host Balaram Babu had tried to persuade her to visit his guru, Sri Ramakrishna. She was not interested but Balaram had continued to persist. Whenever he raised the topic, she would laugh, “ If your sadhu has such power, let him drag me there. Unless he drags me, I will not go.”