Swami Ambikananda described how his father, Navagopal Ghosh, saw Krishna in the Master:
Our house was at Badurbagan in Calcutta. During this period, devotees often arranged to have festivals in their homes on Sundays and invited Sri Ramakrishna and other devotees. They would hire a singer and musicians to entertain the Master and would prepare a sumptuous feast. Girish, Ram, and Kalipada were the organizers. Once my father arranged for a festival in our worship hall and invited the Master and his devotees. A scholar was engaged to recite the Bhagavata. The Master had been seated in the worship hall, but suddenly he jumped up and rushed to the courtyard and stood near the singer and the musicians, in the pose of Krishna with a flute in his hand. It was a wonderful sight. The other devotees encircled the Master and sang kirtan in chorus. My father brought a long flower garland for the Master and he placed it around his neck. After the kirtan, the Master sat on his seat and gradually came down from his ecstatic mood. My father saw a glowing light on the Master’s face. At first, he thought it was an optical illusion, so he went to wash his eyes. But again he saw the same light. Amazed, he asked his brother Jaygopal whether he saw anything unusual in the Master. “No, he looks just as usual,” replied his brother. At last, my father realized that the Master, out of mercy, had shown him his divine, luminous form.
Nistarini Ghosh, Navagopal’s wife, recalled: “One day the Master came to our house. A number of devotees had gathered to see him. When he arrived, he came straight upstairs and remained for some time talking with me. At that time I had a picture of Krishna in my shrine and I told him I was eager to have a vision of Krishna. He went downstairs where all the devotees were singing kirtan. Around his neck, they placed a heavy garland that reached to his feet. At once he assumed the exact posture of Krishna and went into samadhi. All the devotees also went into a higher state of consciousness upon seeing him. Later he asked me if I was now satisfied; I said I would like to see Radha by Krishna’s side. He smiled and replied: ‘Oh, you will have to wait a while for that.’
Once Ramakrishna said to Swami Vijnanananda: “In the Krishna incarnation, I played with the cowherd boys and girls, the gopis, in Vrindaban.”
Vijnanananda recalled:
I was then a college student and could not believe what the Master had said. Perceiving my doubt, the Master began to describe the gopis’ love for Krishna: “The gopis’ love was a genuine divine love. They were mad for Krishna. Hearing the flute of Krishna, they would leave their husbands and rush him. Although Krishna was not wealthy, they loved him more than they did their own lives. They offered their bodies and minds everything to Krishna. It is written in the Bhagavata that Krishna played with the gopis during the full moon night of autumn. At the time of rasalila, Krishna was immersed in samadhi and the gopis were also in ecstasy.”
Saying this, the Master lost outer consciousness and became immersed in samadhi. I was also absorbed in a divine mood thinking of Krishna’s play with the gopis. At that time, being in the Master’s field of influence was like being in the place where the rasa festival was enacted. While I was within those bounds, the veil of ignorance that covered my understanding of the rasalila disappeared. I had a wonderful experience about the rasalila. When the Master came down from samadhi, he looked at me and smiled. I was dumbfounded.
One day at Dakshineswar the Master told his nephew Ramlal: “I want to wear a yellow cloth like Krishna’s.” Ramlal took a new cloth and soaked it in water that had been mixed with turmeric paste. When it was dry, the Master put on that cloth and a garland. Pointing to the cloth and garland, he said: “O Pitambara [one dressed in yellow cloth], Vanamali [wearer of a garland of wild flowers].” Repeating these epithets of Krishna, he went into ecstasy and began to roll on the ground. The cloth dropped from his body and the garland was torn to pieces. Ramlal then dressed the Master in a white cloth and began to praise Krishna. The Master sat there motionless.
✅ Source: ‘How to Live with God’ by Swami Chetanananda
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