On 22 July 1883, while rubbing oil on the Master’s body on the semicircular veranda, Rakhal requested the highest spiritual experience from him. But the Master ignored his demand. When Rakhal persisted, the Master scolded him harshly. In a temper tantrum, Rakhal threw away the oil cup and stalked off with the intention of never returning. Before he got past Jadu Mallick’s garden house, his feet suddenly became numb and he was forced to sit helplessly on the ground. The Master sent his nephew Ramlal to bring him back. The all-forgiving Master said to Rakhal: “Look, could you go? I drew a boundary line there.”
That afternoon, Rakhal and M. were in the Master’s room. They heard Ramakrishna talking with the Divine Mother: “O Mother, why hast Thou given him only a particle?” After a brief pause, he added: “I understand it, Mother. That little bit will be enough for him and will serve Thy purpose. That little bit will enable him to teach people.” M. felt that the Master was transmitting spiritual powers to his disciple, and he recorded: “Sri Ramakrishna was still in a state of partial consciousness when he said to Rakhal: ‘You were angry with me, weren’t you? Do you know why I made you angry? There was a reason. Only then would the medicine work. The surgeon first brings an abscess to a head. Only then does he apply an herb so that it may burst and dry up.’” (Source: God Lived with Them) What Happened Next: Fear During Spiritual Awakening
—–
Premananda’s whole life was one of complete self-surrender. Behind every action was the subtle but commanding presence of Sri Ramakrishna. Sometimes this presence became visible and Premananda would be blessed with a vision of his beloved guru. However, this did not always occur under the most pleasant of circumstances. Once Premananda gave a pumpkin from the monastery garden to a poor brahmin. Seeing the brahmin taking away the pumpkin, Brahmananda said to Premananda, “If you freely distribute the vegetables in this way, how shall we manage the Master’s service here?” Premananda was hurt. He put his towel on his shoulder and marched out of the Belur compound, prepared to leave for good. But the moment he reached the gate, his towel was suddenly snatched from him, and in an instant tightened around his neck. He turned, only to find the figure of Sri Ramakrishna standing in front of him. “Where are you going, my child?” the Master said. “How can you go away, leaving me here?” Overwhelmed by the experience, Premananda rushed to Brahmananda and prostrated himself at his feet. (Source: God Lived with Them)
He (Swami Vivekananda) told us the story of the beautiful garden and of one who went to look over the wall and found it so alluring that he jumped over and never returned. And after him another and another. But we had the unique fortune of having for a teacher one who had looked over and found it no less entrancing; but out of his great compassion he returned to tell the story to those left behind and to help them over the wall. So it went on from morning until midnight. When he saw how deep the impression was which he had made, he would say with a smile: “The cobra has bitten you. You cannot escape.” Or sometimes: “I have caught you in my net. You can never get out.” — Sister Christine (Source: Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda)
—-
He (Swami Vivekananda) talked a great deal of his Master that day. Two stories which he said were his Master’s I remember, because he directed them at me.
‘The first was a story of an old water-demon who lived in a pool. She had long hair, which was capable of infinite extension. When people would come to bathe in the pool, sometimes she would devour them if she was hungry. With others, however, she would twine a hair around one of their toes. When they went home, the hair, invisible, would just stretch and stretch; and when the old demon became hungry she would just start pulling on the hair until the victim came back to the pool once more, to be eaten up.
‘“You have bathed in the pool where my Mother dwells,” Swamiji said to me at the end. “Go back home if you wish; but her hair is twined round your toe and you will have to come back to the pool in the end.”
‘The other story was of a man who was wading down a stream. Suddenly he was bitten by a snake. He looked down, and thought the snake was a harmless water snake and that he was safe. Actually it was a cobra.
Swamiji then said to me: “You have been bitten by the cobra. Don’t ever think you can escape!” ‘Swamiji did not move from his seat once during the whole conversation. None of us moved from our seats. Yet when he finished it was five o’clock in the afternoon. Later the two housekeepers told us they had tried twice to open the door from the kitchen into the dining room to clear the table, but could not get it open. They thought we had locked it so we would not be disturbed. Even when Swamiji had finished, Mrs Aspinall was the only one who thought of taking any food. After talking with Swamiji for a few minutes in his room I put on my coat and came back to San Francisco. As we went up the stairs to his room, Swamiji said: “They think I have driven them crazy. Well, I shall drive them crazier yet!”’ — Mrs Alice M Hansbrough (Source: Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda)
The compassionate Master (Sri Ramakrishna) embraced almost everyone who came to him. And once he had accepted them as his own, he would not let them go, even if they wanted to. He first destroyed the impressions they had accumulated over past lives — sometimes drastically and sometimes gently — and then cast their current lives into his new, extraordinary, and everlasting mould, and thus led them to eternal peace. There will be no doubt about this if the devotees tell their own life stories.
Narendra was tormented with worldly suffering while he was living at home. He felt that he had been surrendering himself to God for such a long time, yet was not fortunate enough to have His vision, and he also thought that the Master had not helped him. His feelings wounded, he secretly planned to renounce the world — but the Master intervened. Through his divine power the Master learned of Narendra’s intention and persuaded him to come to Dakshineswar. When Narendra arrived, the Master touched his hand and began to sing, in ecstasy:
I am afraid to speak,
I am afraid not to speak,
For the fear rises in my mind
That I shall lose you.
The Master thus talked to Narendra in many ways and convinced him to cancel his plans and remain with him.
Although the Master had blessed Girish by taking on his “power of attorney,” still Girish was sceptical and fearful as he remembered the influence of his former bad habits. The Master reassured him: “Rascal, do you think you have been seized by a poisonless water snake? You have been bitten by a real cobra. Even if you run to your home, you will die there. Have you not seen that when water snakes seize bullfrogs, the frogs croak a thousand times before they die, and some may even escape? But when bullfrogs are seized by venomous cobras, they are silenced after three croaks at the most. And if a bullfrog by chance escapes, it dies in its hole. Know this place (pointing to himself) to be like that.” (Source: Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play)