Lessons to learn from the lives of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples – Part 9

Sri Ramakrishna often used to say, “Bhagavatha, Bhaktha, Bhagwan” to mean that the holy scripture, the devotee, and the God, all the three are equal. Therefore, service to devotees is service to God. Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples followed this teaching of the Master (Sri Ramakrishna). Here is an anecdote from the life of Swami Premananda displaying this quality.

Once during the birth anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna, M. (Mahendranath Gupta, the recorder of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna) came to Belur Math to pay his homage to the Master. He was not well. After saluting the Master in the shrine, M. sat under the mango tree in the courtyard. He carried some puffed rice for refreshment and enquired if there is any curd (yogurt) in the storeroom. A young monk went to check and found a pot of curd that had not yet been offered to the Master; for that reason, it could not be given to M. (The usual procedure followed in temples and other Hindu religious institutions is to offer everything to God and then distribute the offerings to the devotees. Nothing is consumed without offering it at the feet of God.)

While the monk was returning from the storeroom, Swami Premananda learned from him that M. needed curd. Swami Premananda immediately took the pot and, standing in front of the Master’s picture, offered it to him with closed eyes. He then gave it to the monk to serve M.

Afterwards Premananda told a monk with emotion, “Today the Master saved me from a grave error. Do you know M. was an immediate companion of the Master? The master eats food through the mouths of these devotees. Have you not read in the Gospel, where the Master says that if you feed one of them, you will attain virtue equivalent to feeding one thousand monks? In the Ramakrishna incarnation, M. is the Sage Vyasa [the recorder] and again the Sage Narada [the singer]. Day and night the gospel of the Master comes from his lips like a fountain. The Master saved me today from a serious mistake.”

Service to devotees is service to God. From the advaita point of view, God manifests in every living being. That’s why Swami Vivekananda went one step further and emphasized the importance of serving the poor and destitute.

Once, in 1901, some laborers were engaged in leveling the grounds of the monastery. One day, he arranged a feast for them and, when the meal was over, he told them, “You are Narayanas. Today I have entertained the Lord Himself by feeding you.”

Later, addressing the inmates of Belur Math, he said, “See how simple-hearted these poor, illiterate people are! Will you be able to relieve their misery to some extent at least? …Let us go from village to village, devoting ourselves to the service of the poor. … Let us, through the force of our character and spirituality and our austere living, convince the rich about their duties to the masses, and get money and the means wherewith to serve the poor and the distressed. …Unless they are elevated, the Great Mother India will never awake! What are we good for if we cannot provide facilities for their food and clothing? Alas, they are ignorant of the ways of the world and hence fail to eke out a living though laboring hard day and night for it. Gather all your forces together to remove the veil from their eyes. What I see clear as daylight is that the same Brahman, the same Sakti, is in them as in me! Only there is a difference in the degree of manifestation— that is all.”

A little later he said: 'After so much tapasya, austerity, I have known that the highest truth is this: "He is present in all beings. These are all the manifested forms of Him. There is no other God to seek for! He alone is worshipping God, who serves all beings."'

Anyone who exploits a fellow human, near or distant, offends God and will pay for it sooner or later. All of us are children of the same God, and the same God is residing in the heart of each one of us. Hence service to fellow humans is service to God.