CHAPTER XIV

COSSIPUR GARDEN-HOUSE

BHAGAVAN RaMAKRISHNA resided for a few months in a large and beautiful garden at Cossipur, about two miles north of Calcutta. Here He was constantly surrounded by His most beloved Sannyasin disciples and by those women disciples who were especially devoted to Him.

The Sannyasin disciples were twelve in number. [**] Most of them were young men of noble families and were graduates of the University at Calcutta. They had left their homes and

relatives for His sake. Their one aim in life was to serve their Master, the living God on earth and the Incarnation of Divinity in a human form. The love of Sri Ramakrishna captivated their hearts and souls. Indeed these earnest and sincere disciples were the pillars upon which the Divine Manifestation was about to build the structure of His universal mission. The illness which the Bhagavan had assumed upon His physical form was the means by which He gathered His beloved ones around Him and gave them the opportunity to nurse and wait upon their Divine Master. They sacrificed their personal comfort upon the altar of true devotion and served their Lord with whole heart and soul day after day and night after night. Their devotion was unique and unparalleled in the religious history of modern India. It was these young disciples who afterwards became the world-renowned Swamis of the Order of Sri Ramakrishna. There were also householder disciples, like Suresh, Balaram, Girish, Ram, Mahendra and others, who used to come frequently to see Ramakrishna and to serve Him by supplying the household with all necessary things.

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Ramakrishna occupied the large room on the second floor of the beautiful house situated in the centre of the spacious garden. He was seated on His bed, which was spread on the floor, and was surrounded by His Sannyasin and householder disciples. Conversation arose concerning Sannyas (Renunciation) and a householder's life, and Girish asked: Bhagavan, which is right--to renounce the world with a view to avoid worldly cares and suffering or to worship God living with one's family?

[To live in the world or to renounce it.] Bhagavan referred to the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita and said: He who lives with his family but is unattached to the relations and things of the world, who performs his duties without seeking the results of his works, attains to God in the same manner as one who has renounced the world after realizing that earthly relations and objects are transitory and unreal. Those who renounce the world merely to avoid worldly cares and suffering belong to the lowest class of Sannyasins. He who has attained to God living in the world is like the man who resides in a

crystal palace and sees everything of the outside as well as of the inside of the palace.

Girish: Bhagavan, why is it that mind after reaching a very high plane comes down to the world?