About Sri Ramakrishna’s method of worship, Hriday said: “I would notice that Uncle, taking flowers and bel leaves in his hand, touched his own head, chest, in fact the whole body, including the feet, with them and then offered them at the feet of Kali.”
“I saw how Uncle’s chest and eyes were always red like those of a drunkard. He’d get up reeling from the worshipper’s seat, climb onto the altar, and caress the Divine Mother, touching Her affectionately under the chin. He’d begin singing, laughing, joking, and talking with Her, or sometimes he’d catch hold of Her hands and dance.
“I saw how, when he was offering cooked food to the Divine Mother, he’d suddenly get up, take a morsel of rice and curry from the plate in his hand, touch the Mother’s mouth with it, and say: ‘Eat it, Mother. Do eat it!’ Then maybe he’d say: ‘You want me to eat it — and then You’ll eat some afterwards? All right, I’m eating it now.’ Then he’d take some of it himself and put the rest to Her lips again, saying: ‘I’ve had some. Now You eat.’
“One day, at the time of the food offering, Uncle saw a cat. It had come into the temple, mewing. He fed it with the food which was to be offered to the Divine Mother. ‘Will You take it, Mother?’ he said to the cat.”
Actions such as these are deemed sacrilegious in Hindu ritual. Gradually the temple officials came to know about the apparently deranged behaviour of Sri Ramakrishna, and they sent a message of complaint to Mathur in Calcutta. One day Mathur arrived unannounced at the temple, and what he saw convinced him that the Master was not insane but living in a higher plane of consciousness. However, Sri Ramakrishna could not continue the daily ritualistic worship in that state of divine intoxication. One day Mathur and Hriday were present while he was worshipping in the Kali temple. Suddenly the Master, in ecstasy, rose from his seat and said to Mathur: “Hriday will perform the worship from now on. Mother says that She will accept his worship in the same manner as mine.” The devout Mathur accepted the Master’s words as a command from the Divine Mother. (Source: They Lived with God)