The Story of Ramakrishna Keralam and the Report of the 75th Anniversary Celebrations of the Advent of Sri Ramakrishna both stand now at the threshold of 1911.
Both the subjects travel together for some time. Then they again branch into two stories, one about the Celebrations of Sri Ramakrishna’s Birth Anniversaries and the other that of Ramakrishna Keralam.
But 1911 has been a serendipitous event. Its discovery a hundred years hence now has also been a pleasing surprise. We have to credit it to Sarada that she can hide her gifts well and spring it on us even after a hundred years. Maybe she has kept great things for us at the end of our lives, too.
What happened was this: When the Ramakrishna Movement was sluggish in the North because of vitiated political atmosphere, when nobody knew that the 75th Anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna’s Advent was approaching, some guiding force made Mother to stir out of Bengal, stay in Kothar for a little more than two months and have a very pleasant time and load the containers with grace.
This grace laden vessel stayed in Madras shores for a month, grew into a mount of mercy in Rameswaram as Paravata Vardhini, climbed it and became an Ark atop a new Aden, a bliss giving Kalpataru in Bangalore.
She became Godavari Pushkarini and then Akshaya Trithiya in Belur Math. She completed the whole round by becoming Annapurna in Kashi in 1912.
So many blissful events happen during her peregrinations and follow that.
This is it in a nutshell. Let us then proceed to open it and draw out from the abundant treasures within.
Ramakrishna Movement has a strong undercurrent. Persons having the perception connect themselves to it. But to cater to the really thirsty the current has to come to the surface in the form of attractive, lovely waves.
Breaking out into waves depends on the surface. If the surface is hard there is no breaking out at all. If it is clayey, the waters become a muddled puddle.
Such a societal mud puddle was Bengal in 1911.
Swami Ramakrishnananda, the Apostle to the South and Swami Nirmalananda, whom Swami Brahmananda crowned as the Guardian of South, along with fervent devotees in South India were eagerly awaiting the arrival of Mother in South India. All the devotees of Madras Presidency, and the princely States of Mysore, Cochin and Travancore were agog in a holy thrill.
Holy Mother the Energizer of the Ramakrishna Movement, invoked by the pure devotion of the devotees, appeared at Madras on the 11th of February, 1911.
As if on cue, within a week, the momentous 75th Anniversary Celebrations began on the 18th February, the Birthday of Sri Ramakrishna in Haripad.
Mother went about literally showering her grace in and around Madras and then in Madurai and Rameswaram. The acme was when she ascended the Rock to cast her graceful eyes on all the areas extending up to the distant western horizon where lay the Western coastlands of Kerala and Konkan. She was the supplier of the just sprouted seed of Ramakrishna Keralam, and was watching from her own place, Bangalore Ashrama grounds, which had just also become the capital of Ramakrishna Movement in Kerala and housed the centre called ‘Ramakrishna Kerala Mission’.
`When the Ramakrishna Movement was sluggish in the North....’
On what basis we say this?
`When nobody knew that the 75th Anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna’s Advent was approaching…’ Really so?
` some guiding force made Mother to... stay in Kothar for... two months... have a very pleasant time… load the containers with grace….’
What force? Mother really had an exceptionally pleasant time? What loading are we talking about?
` invoked by the pure devotion of the devotees, appeared at Madras on the 11th of February, 1911…’ Do explain.
Swami Ramakrishnananda … and Swami Nirmalananda, whom Swami Brahmananda crowned as the Guardian of South … All the devotees of Madras Presidency, and the princely States of Mysore, Cochin and Travancore were agog in a holy thrill. … As if on cue, within a week, the momentous 75th Anniversary Celebrations began on the 18th February, the Birthday of Sri Ramakrishna in Haripad.
How come Kerala?
` grew into a mount of mercy in Rameswaram as Paravata Vardhini…’
Mount of mercy? Parvata Vardhini?
` But 1911 has been a serendipitous event. Its discovery a hundred years hence now has also been a pleasing surprise…’
What is really special about Year 1911? What is the new discovery?
` climbed it and became an Ark atop a new Aden, a bliss giving Kalpataru in Bangalore…’
Mother becoming Kalpataru?
`.. She ascended the Rock to cast her graceful eyes on … the Western coastlands of Kerala and Konkan. She was …watching from her own... Grounds … called ‘Ramakrishna Kerala Mission’.
Kerala again?
She became Godavari Pushkarini and then Akshaya Trithiya in Belur Math... Annapurna in Kashi....’
Tell us more.
Today is the day of leave taking. I think I never had sadder day.
We have been travelling with the party of our Mother Sarada since Feb. 11th. So we have been on the move for the last 56 days. We will be with her till 11th April and again we will be going to her off and on till 1st May.
But it seems that it will not be the same thing again. The proximity that we have been enjoying till now is something singular.
We can observe that the Grace that has been hovering around her is beginning to fold up.
That it is lingering about quite strongly and will never be completely gone, we can of course make out. We also understand that it will look like the same thing for the next few weeks. But look-alike is only that much, it just looks alike. It is not It. It is not the same.
We have been following Mother’s peregrinations from a comfortable vantage point. We are able to grasp whatever little we could of what Mother was doing by gathering into our focus pictures of various interconnected events and trying to get the total picture.
Though this broadcast is ‘deferred’ still it is `deferred live’. There had been live reports. But they had been sort-of patchy. Nevertheless, they form the base of this report. Examining the dates and places, we get some more substantial pieces of our broadcast. But the `live’ mostly spring from between the lines. The Spirit that lies bundled between lines has indeed enlivened us all these days.
Let us spread it out on the table.
Holy Mother’s travelling to Orissa and South India from Dec. 4th 1910 to April 11, 1911 is not just the pilgrimage that we are accustomed to think about as, but something much more, all deftly wrapped in the shape of a pilgrimage.
We suggest that this joyful peregrination of Mother is as important a part of her life and the History of Ramakrishna Movement as Swamiji’s first visit to the West had been.
Travelling with Mother with Swami Prabhananda’s `Holy Mother in the South’ (published by Madras Math during Mother’s 150th Birth Centenary) as the basic guide book, had been a great experience.
`Days in an Indian Monastery’ by Sister Devamata gives us a clear understanding of Mother’s experiences and sights that Mother saw in Madras and Bangalore, because Devamata had been a sort-of pilot traveler, staying in the same places where Mother would stay afterward and having a fore-taste of experiences that Mother would have later.
Searching up the dates, places and temples visited by Mother, brings before us the great festivals and legends of these places. We are able to comprehend with immense joy the fact that when the Mother of the Universe went visiting her children, they offered the best of their appearance, culture and traditions before her.
We know that she had been in a blissful and blessing mood throughout her travels. We are sorry to see her back to her veiled life in Bengal.
But we have to make do with it. We do our best and try to meet her in Calcutta, Jayarambati, Koalpara, and for some days in Kashi and most importantly, we chew the cud.
`From a portion of a letter of Swami Ramakrishnananda, one gets and inkling of the longing with which the monastic and lay devotees were waiting there to receive her.
On February 1, 1911, he had written from Madras to Dr. Venkatarangam, a devotee in Bangalore:
`Our most adorable Mother is coming here on her way to Rameswaram. She is coming here to bless you all. Do not miss this unexpected and rare opportunity to worship the Divine Mother in her person. Do come over here and be blessed with her grace. She is expected to arrive here on the 11th of this month. .. It is the great good fortune of you all that the Mother of the Creation would be making her appearance at your door-step. As soon as the soil of this place gets blessed with the touch of her holy feet, you should be here to pay your obeisance to her.’(2)
That Dr. Venkatarangam did not come to Madras immediately and like other devotees in Bangalore was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Mother in Bangalore is evident from a later letter (3&4) from Shashi Maharaj.
`Shashi Maharaj had written on February 14 that it would not be possible for Mother to visit Bangalore, as Belur Math authorities were worried by the news that Bangalore was infested with plague. By that time Swami Vishuddhananda, a disciple of Mother and two other devotees, Narayana Iyengar and Rajagopal Naidu had gone to Madras.
After having darshan of Mother and offering pranams, they returned to Bangalore and confirmed the news that Mother would not visiting their places. Later on 'Tulsi Maharaj ... rushed to Madras….’(5)
Mother reached Madras on the 11th February 1911.
We know that Swami Vishuddhananda, Shri Narayana Iyengar and some devotees from Bangalore had Mother’s Darshan soon.
We deduce the following sequence of events:
On 15th Feb. 1911, charged with the pure joy6 of Mother’s presence in the region, Tulsi Maharaj starts the Kerala work, which was entrusted to him by Swami Ramakrishnananda.
From Reports in Prabuddha Bharata we get detailed information about the glorious launch of the Ramakrishna Mission’s work in Haripad:
'According to previous arrangement7 the Secretary and another member of the Ramakrishna Religious Association, Haripad met Swami Nirmalananda, President of the Ramakrishna Math, Bangalore, at Ernakulam on the 15th February and escorted him to Alleppey in a steam launch the next day….’8
He is blessed with great success.
Thus Sri Ramakrishna’s Mission starts in Haripad on 18 February, 1911, the 75th Birthday of Sri Ramakrishna.
This also is the beginning of the 75th Birthday Anniversary Celebrations that continues in many places in India and abroad.
On his return sometime around 22th February, the devotees report to Tulsi Maharaj that Mother would not be coming to Bangalore.
Tulsi Maharaj `rushes’ to Madras, `…He stayed there for two days and discussed the matter with Mother and Shashi Maharaj. He submitted that the area surrounding the Ashrama was free from plague and that a large number of devotees had been anxiously waiting there to have the darshan of Holy Mother. At long last, Mother gave her consent to visit Bangalore. It seems, all these things had happened before Mother started for Madurai and Rameswaram’.9
Tulsi Maharaj wrests back Mother’s Blessings on Karnataka and Kerala.
Everything about Sri Ramakrishna calls for Joyous Celebration.
When He was born they could feel it palpably in Kamarpukur which added credence to similar Bhagavata accounts.
It was celebration time for the humble and innocent village folk.
It turned out to be a celebratory community feeding when little Gadai ate his first morsel of rice.
It sent a pure thrill of joy, when boy Gadai Shiva remained in Bhava. They came in droves till his birthday that followed to satisfy themselves that he was back to his normal merry self.
It was very often fun and laughter at Dakshineswar.
His birthdays after he dropped his body was always a day of pure joy.
His 75th Birthday was the first occasion when the blessed day was celebrated by great many people in India and some abroad too.
With Mother’s oblique blessings it began in Haripad. Mother herself presided over it in Madras and made a special appearance in Bangalore. Swami Brahmananda did the star turn in Belur Math.
Then Mother in person made a grand conclusion in Belur Math in 1912.
It all happened apparently without their knowledge that they were celebrating the 75th Birthday.
We have been joyfully observing the centenary of these blessed events.
We will cover these:
Haripad, 18th February 1911, 75th Birth Anniversary begins.
Madras, 2nd March to 5th March, Mother presides over
Events that happen in between till
26 March 1911, Mother becomes Ananda Kalpataru in Bangalore; further events till
May 1, 1911, Akshaya Trithiya, Belur Math
Later part of 1911, the first shrine with Ramakrishna and Sarada together in Koalpara; finally
Early 1912, Concluding Celebrations in Belur Math.
Swami Premananda and others in Belur Math were excitedly getting ready for receiving Holy Mother after her return to Bengal after an eventful, auspicious, grace showering, sojourn in Orissa and South India.
The news of the great devotion with which she was received in South and the over-abundant measure of blessing which it drew forth from Mother had travelled to the inmates of the Math as well other devotees in Bengal. They were waiting with bated breath for Akshaya Trithiya, on 1st May 1911, when Mother would grace Belur Math with her presence and fructify the 75th Ramakrishna Shukla Dwitiya Celebration which was started with her blessings on 18th February 1911 (Sri Ramakrishna’s 75th Birthday), at Haripad in Kerala and presided over by her Madras and Bangalore.
On the Chaturdashi preceeding Ramakrishna Shukla Dwitiya, she along with Shashi Maharaj had offered Bel leaves to Kapaleswar Shiva in Mylapore. On the succeeding Chaturdashi, she was worshipping Rameswara Shiva. In between she had worshipped Parthasarathi in Triplicane during His yearly float festival.
She was in Puri during Vasanta Navaratri, when Sahiyatra artists were all down in the streets of Puri enacting Ramayana. She was there on Rama Navami. She saw Jagannatha as Shiva residing on a seat of one thousand salagramas. She fed others and others fed her in Ananda Bazaar where Vimala Devi resides, and creates Mahaprasad.
She prayed in all these holy places, on all these holy days.
We know she prayed in Gaya and we are what we are where we are.
We can only guess what she prayed for, but we know, among other things, that Ramakrishna Mission was vivified.
We surmise that Swami Nirmalananda returned to Bangalore on the 22nd February, 1911 morning. We may guess that he immediately hears of the cancellation of Mother’s Bangalore programme. Grief stricken, Tulsi Maharaj ‘rushes’ to Madras and is at Mother’s doors to plead with her to shower her grace on Bangalore. We assume that Mother is ready to come but wants that to be cleared by Shashi Maharaj and Rakhal Maharaj. It takes two days for that. Mother’s encouragement must have made Tulsi Maharaj to stay put for two days and continue his pleadings. Once he gets the go-ahead, which we can deduce to be around the evening of 24th February, Tulsi Maharaj is fully occupied heart and soul in the preparations of Sri Ramakrishna Birth Anniversary Celebrations around 2nd March and for Mother’s stay some days after that.
We can be sure that Mother heard from Swami Vishuddhananda about her son Tulsi’s proposed tour in Kerala just before he was to start it and also about the great devotion to Sri Ramakrishna shown by people there from Tulsi Maharaj’s own mouth. There is no doubt whatsoever that Mother blessed the devotees of Kerala on both the occasions.
We can derive all these conclusions, as we are directly informed by a letter dt. 31 March 1911, from Swami Nirmalananda to a devotee in Haripad that he could not write to him after his return from Kerala, because he was busy going to Madras and invoking Mother’s presence in Bangalore and later with serving her and that he would be away for more than a month as he would be accompanying her up to Calcutta.
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