Sri Sarada Devi:“May She, the cords of whose sovereign will control all laws, / May She, The Primal One, shelter me everlastingly”

After Thakur’s Mahasamadhi, Sri Ma wanted to wear the white sari of the widow and remove her bangles according to custom. She had a vision of Thakur. He said: “What are you doing? Is it that I have gone anywhere? I have merely gone from this room to that as it were…Don’t you remove your bracelets. She, whose husband is Krishna Himself, can never become a widow.” To the end of her life she wore a red bordered sari and bangles to indicate that Thakur’s body had been cremated but his spirit was alive. He lived and lives in the hearts of his devotees. In Sri Ma’s life the ideas of both the Virgin Mother and the Resurrection find a rational basis. She was a chaste nun who was and is the spiritual mother of thousands. In Anirvan’s beautiful hymn to Sri Ma: “A corona of the Hidden Light/Thou art Aditi, the Virgin Mother of Gods and Man/ Aditi whose shadow is Immortality and Death/ Aditi, the Spirit of the Earth whose golden bosom shines in the empyrean height…” (p.222)

Ref: Sri Sarada Devi: The Great Wonder, by Apostles, Monks, Savants, Scholars, Devotees

Header: Swami Vivekananda, “A Hymn to Mother”

Pic: www.swamishivpadananda.typepad.com)

Sri Sarada Devi: The Motherhood of God

 Sri Ramakrishna entrusted her with his spiritual ministry. “It is not my burden alone. It is your responsibility too. These people of Calcutta are wallowing in darkness. You must take care of them. I have done but little, you will have to do more.” Sri Ma survived Thakur by 34 years. She played the role not just of the consort of the Avatar like Sri Sita. She was ‘Jnan and mukti dayini’ in her own right, the ‘sangha janani’ of the Ramakrishna movement. The first person she initiated was Swami Yogananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. Thereafter she initiated and was a Guru to thousands. She was a gracious, loving mother both to the wicked and the good. So wondrous was her heart that a dacoit like Amzad was treated with the same affection as a spiritual giant like Swami Saradananda. Such was her power that she held her relatives, the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna and lay devotees together in one large, spiritually vibrant and peaceful community.

(Pic: www.spiritualmessages.blogspot.com)

Sri Sarada Devi:Who is husband and who is wife? Who is my relative in this world?

During Thakur’s last illness, Sri Ma’s grief knew no limits. She went to the Shiva temple at Tarakehwar to find a reprieve.  She gave up food and water and lay before Shiva for two days in the hope of getting some remedy that could save him. On the night of the second day, she had a strange experience: “I was startled to hear a sound. It was as if someone was breaking a pile of earthen pots with one blow. I woke up from the torpor and the idea flashed in my mind, ‘Who is husband and who is wife? Who is my relative in this world? Why am I about to kill myself?’ All attachment for the Master disappeared. My mind was filled with utter renunciation. I groped through darkness and sprinkled my face with holy water from the pit at the back of the temple. I also drank a little water as my throat was parched with thirst. I felt refreshed. The next morning I came to Cossipore garden. No sooner did the Master see me than he asked, ‘Well, did you get anything? Well, everything is unreal, isn't it?”

(Pic: www.advaitaashrama.org)

Sri Sarada Devi:“Surely you are the most wonderful thing of God- Sri Ramakrishna’s own chalice of His love for the world”

Swami Vivekananda had blessed Sister Nivedita with sanyas before she came to India. He wanted to set up a Math for women with Sri Sarada Devi as the nucleus. Unfortunately, at that time, Indian women lived very subservient and constricted lives. Very few were educated. Added to that was the ban on mixing with ‘mlechas’ or foreigners. People were afraid of ‘losing caste’ if they socialized with foreigners. Swamiji brought Sister Nivedita and other women disciples to India to help in setting up schools etc for women and starting institutions that would grow into monasteries for women. He could not accomplish his dream without Sri Ma’s support. Such was the orthodoxy of the time that unless she gave her approval and accepted the Swami’s western disciples they would be virtual outcasts in Hindu society. But his fears were unfounded. Sri Ma opened her arms and took them all in a great mother embrace. To quote Sr. Nivedita: “All the spiritual verities which India has dreamt of and realized for thousands of years in a piecemeal way, have been fulfilled in the one life of the Holy Mother…With Sri Ramakrishna, a power has arisen which will, like a tidal bore, carry the whole of humanity towards the door of liberation and the name of that power is Ramakrishna-Sarada. (Pp.202-203,

Ref: Sri Sarada Devi: The Great Wonder, by Apostles, Monks, Savants, Scholars, Devotees

Pic: www.en.wikipedia.com

Heading: Sr. Nivedita, letter to Sri Ma, p. 484)

Sri Sara Devi:She, who is Sita, she who is Sri Radha, she who is the primordial power Kali…Saraswati…Mahamaya, the giver of liberation

Sri Ma’s room in Dakshineshwar was just 8’ x 6’! It had a small door and no windows. She cooked in a small part of the narrow verandah surrounding it. And in that cramped space she hung her belongings, swept the floor, washed the dishes, served meals, met visitors and cooked for the endless stream of devotees who came to meet Thakur. Each disciple was special:  Chana dal for Swami Vivekananda and moong dal for Swami Brahmananda. Every day she made chapattis out of three seers of atta. Sri Ma went through a period of great hardship after Thakur’s Mahasamadhi.  No one had an inkling of her destitution. Such was her condition that she could not afford to buy salt to season her rice. Her saris were so badly torn that they could not be stitched. She tied the pieces together in such a way that no one could see the joints. She once walked from Burdwan to Kumarpukur because she couldn’t afford to pay for a cart. And yet, she never complained.  She was the very soul of renunciation. Wasn’t she also कुमारजाकुता ‘Kamarajakuta’ the adamantine will of the Divine Mother?

(Pic re shared courtesy: www.vedantasacto.com)

Sri Sarada Devi:The great mother heart

Sri Ma straddled two worlds – she was both the ordinary housewife and the brahmcharini.   She had both aspects of the divine – “paratva,” (supreme divinity) and “saulabhya,” ( human normalcy, accessibility).Hers was a life of renunciation lived in the midst of the world. There was no end to the troubles she had to face because of her troublesome   relatives.  Her mad sister-in-law died leaving an imbecile niece, Radhu, in Sri Ma’s care.  Radhu proved to be Sri Ma’s greatest challenge. She would not stand up even six months after delivering her baby. She took to opium as a cure for her weakness. One day Sri Ma chided her gently. Radhu flew into a rage. She picked up a big brinjal from the vegetables Sri Ma was cutting and hit her on the back. The mother immediately took some dust from her feet and sprinkled it on Radhu’s head to save her from the evil effects of her act. Such was her compassion. She never thought of herself.

Sri Sarada Devi:“A God-centered, God- circumferenced, God-soaked life”

Dr Radhkrishnan cites a beautiful passage in his article on Sri Ma: “You open the ‘Gita- Govinda’ – you find there, when the sky is overcast with clouds, when the path ahead of you is strewn with Tamala trees, when it is night time, when you don’t know in what direction to turn, you place yourself in the hands of a loving woman. In such a situation, up above darkness, ahead of you darkness – night time – I don’t know in which direction to turn “राधे गृहं प्रापय,’ ‘May you Radha, lead me home.’  (p.226) Sri Ma was the polestar for thousands of her devotees. She was ‘Vagbhavakuta,’ Saraswati. For Swami Vivekananda and his gurubhais, her word was law. Here is an instance: A plague broke out in Calcutta and ravaged the city. Swamiji had received funds to set up Belur. He wanted to sell the land on which the monastery was to be built and use the money for plague relief. Sri Ma stopped him. She took a long term view. There would be many disasters and calamities in the future. Once the monastery was set up, the sadhus would have the means to serve millions, not just a few hundred plague victims.

Heading: Swami Budhananda, Sri Sarada Devi: The Great Wonder, p.439

Pic re shared courtesy: www.ukchatterji.blogspot.com