Regarding the vision of God, Ramakrishna said: “The more you advance towards God, the less you will see of His glories and grandeur. The aspirant at first has a vision of the goddess with ten arms; there is a great display of power in that image. The next vision is that of the deity with two arms; there are no longer ten arms holding various weapons and missiles. Then the aspirant has a vision of Gopala, in which there is no trace of power. It is the form of a tender child.”
Ramakrishna appeared as the pure and loving form of Gopala to several of his devotees. Swami Saradananda wrote:
Following Vaishnava sadhanas, the Brahmani had some periods of bliss arising from the sakhya and vatsalya attitudes. While she was staying at the Devamandal ghat in Dakshineswar, she would become absorbed in the vatsalya mood. Shedding tears for the Master, she would hold butter in her hand and loudly call for him, “Gopala, Gopala.” Meanwhile, at Dakshineswar the Master was extremely anxious to see the Brahmani. Like a boy pining for his mother, the Master would run a mile to see her, sit near her, and eat the butter. The Brahmani would sometimes dress herself in a red silk Varanasi sari and jewellery borrowed from some neighbours and visit the Master, accompanied by some village women. She would bring various delicacies to him and sing songs about Gopala on her way; after feeding the Master, she would return. The Master told us that when the Brahmani was in that state with dishevelled hair and overwhelmed by her spiritual mood – it seemed that she was Nanda’s queen Yashoda [the foster mother of Krishna] grieving because of her separation from Gopala.
Swami Saradananda described Aghoremani’s vision of Gopala:
It was three o’clock one spring morning when Aghoremani [Gopal -ma] started to practise her japa. After finishing, she began pranayama and was about to offer the result of her practices to her Chosen Deity when she noticed Sri Ramakrishna seated at her left, his right fist clenched. She saw the Master vividly as alive as she saw him in Dakshineswar. She wondered: “What is this? How did he get here at such an odd hour?” Gopal-ma later described it thus: “I looked at him in amazement and thought, ‘How did he get here?’ Meanwhile, Gopala (as she called Sri Ramakrishna) kept smiling sweetly. I gathered my courage and grasped his left hand and Sri Ramakrishna’s form disappeared. In its place appeared the real Gopala — a large baby, ten months old. His beauty and appearance beggars description! He crawled towards me and, raising one hand, said, ‘Mother, give me butter.’ I was overwhelmed and bewildered by this amazing experience! I cried out so loudly that if there had been men around the house they would have rushed there. With tearful eyes, I said: ‘My son, I am a poor, helpless widow. What shall I feed you? Where shall I get butter and cream, my child?’ But that wonderful Gopala did not listen to me. ‘Give me something to eat,’ he kept saying. What could I do? Sobbing, I got up and took some dry coconut balls from a hanging basket. Placing them in his hand, I said, ‘Gopala, my darling, I offer you these wretched things, but please don’t give me such poor food in return.’
“I could not perform japa at all. Gopala sat on my lap, snatched away my rosary, jumped on my shoulders, and crawled around the room. At daybreak, I rushed to Dakshineswar on foot like a crazy woman. Gopala accompanied me. I held his buttocks with one hand and his back with the other while his head rested on my shoulder. I distinctly saw Gopala’s two tiny, rosy feet dangling over my bosom.”
After arriving at Dakshineswar that spring day, Aghoremani, gripped by that exuberant spiritual mood, shed tears and said many things to Sri Ramakrishna: “Here is Gopala in my arms…. Now he enters into you (pointing to Sri Ramakrishna)…. There, he comes out again…. Come, my child, come to your wretched mother.” While talking in this manner, she saw the naughty Gopala vanish into the Master’s body and reappear before her in the form of a luminous boy. His extraordinary play and childish pranks overwhelmed her, making her forget the strict rules, rites, and routines of the external world. Who could control oneself after being caught by that mighty spiritual tidal wave?
On that day Aghoremani became Gopal-ma, and the Master began to call her by that name. Sri Ramakrishna expressed great delight as he observed her wonderful ecstasy. To calm her, he stroked her chest and fed her with delicacies from his room. Even as she ate, Gopal-ma remained in ecstasy, saying: “Gopala, my darling, your wretched mother has led a life of dire poverty. She has to make her living by spinning and selling sacred thread. Is that why you are taking special care of her today?”
The Master kept her at Dakshineswar that day. She took her bath and meals there. In the evening, when she had calmed a little, the Master sent her back to Kamarhati. The Gopala of her vision went with her, nestled in her arms.
Later, during the Return Chariot Festival of Jagannath, the Master spent a few days at Balaram’s house, and Gopal-ma came to see him. Swami Saradananda wrote: “Shortly before evening the Master went into ecstasy. We have seen the metal image of Gopala in a crawling posture: Its knees and left hand are on the ground, and it is looking joyfully and wistfully upward and asking for something with its right hand raised, palm up. The Master went into ecstasy and assumed that posture, except that his eyes remained half-closed as if focussed on something within. Shortly after the Master’s ecstasy began, Gopal-ma’s carriage arrived at Balaram’s gate. She went upstairs and found the Master in the posture of her Chosen Deity. The devotees present understood that it was Gopal-ma’s intense devotion that had brought about this sudden manifestation of Gopala in the Master. They appreciated Gopal-ma and adored her, considering her to be most fortunate. They remarked: ‘What wonderful devotion! The Master assumed the form of Gopala because of her intense devotion.’ But Gopal-ma said: ‘Truly speaking, I don’t care for this stiff posture in ecstasy. My Gopala should laugh and play, walk and run. But what is this? He has become stiff like a log. I don’t like to see this sort of Gopala!'”
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