Summary of Corona Relief Activities of Haripad Ashrama

Dear All
Ramakrishna Math Haripad has been working for Distribution for Corona Relief.
Here are few pictures of same.
More detailed pictures are available in Google Drive Links.
Regards
Web Team

CLICK THIS LINK FOR 6TH ROUND DISTRIBUTION CORONA RELIEF HARIPAD
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1H8V1vS8s5XxoxPxh49KJSNHtcyNzxtrb?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VscK5xz6uySviI56kfdqcfkyAzRwX8no
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CLICK THIS LINK FOR 4 & 5th TH ROUND DISTRIBUTION CORONA RELIEF HARIPAD
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sAu54AxDfnQTn9OcRo2Vqe_blKolrRPD?usp=sharing

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SEE THIS LINK FOR 3rd ROUND DISTRIBUTION CORONA RELIEF;–
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PNuimt6aQMn_znbKifdsJ3qJMgUPMaCY?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gl8nkDDWpnMYpszOMiRZ9IeF5tFdQLv9?usp=sharing

SEE THIS LINK FOR 2ND ROUND DISTRIBUTION CORONA RELIEF;–
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HKZtSVUeVmuHW4CfMSKi28CbZa8H2Nma?usp=sharing

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SEE THIS LINK FOR 1ST ROUND DISTRIBUTION CORONA RELIEF;–
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17KLxIQ_nWJEcn0j6Un5LbHEgZZHgCRm-

Sri Ramakrishna’s saving Grace

Sri Ramakrishna’s Comforting Assurance – Swami Sambuddhananda

Swami Sambuddhananda was a disciple of the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi. At the invitation of the Vedanta Society of Hawaii, he visited Honolulu twice nearly fifty years ago. The following article, edited by Swami Bhaskarananda, is one of his talks given in Honolulu.

{ Article Source: Global Vedanta, Spring 2010 Issue }

Once Sri Ramakrishna said, “Those who will come ‘here’ will not be born again.” In other words, those who will come ‘here’ will attain liberation; they will be free from the cycle of repeated births and deaths.

When I first read this saying of Sri Ramakrishna, it appeared to be a little enigmatic to me. I couldn’t clearly understand what Sri Ramakrishna had meant by “here.” By the word “here” did Sri Ramakrishna mean his own divine Self, or did he mean something else?

So I asked several spiritually exalted disciples of Sri Ramakrishna to know how they had understood it. I had the privilege of asking Swami Saradananda, Swami Shivananda and a few others. Unfortunately, their replies didn’t quite satisfy me.

But, when I was not yet a monk of the Ramakrishna Order, I had the good fortune of living for a while with another great disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. He was my honored guest and spent about two or three months with me. He was Swami Subodhananda, better known in the Ramakrishna Order as Khoka Maharaj. To him I referred the matter. And, in reply, he narrated one incident of his life, which helped me to understand the real significance of this utterance of Sri Ramakrishna.

Swami Subodhananda had many disciples. He had a number of disciples who lived in Ranchi, a town in Bihar. It so happened that all those disciples of Swami Subodhananda in Ranchi were Bengalees.

And one of them was a very good-natured, widowed girl named Kusum. Kusum had no children and lived with her parents and siblings. She was very much devoted to her guru, Swami Subodhananda. Whenever the swami visited their home in Ranchi, she had the opportunity to serve him with great love and devotion.

In the same neighborhood where Kusum lived with her parents, lived a certain Mukherjee family. They lived very close to Kusum’s home. Both Mr. Mukherjee and his wife were also devoted to Swami Subodhananda.

Whenever Swami Subodhananda would visit Kusum’s home he would also visit the Mukherjees.

After a few years, Kusum became quite ill. Her parents, siblings, and all others who loved her were very sad. During the period of Kusum’s illness, Mr. and Mrs. Mukherjee would come and see her frequently. Eventually, the doctors, under whose treatment she was, gave up all hopes about her recovery. Then came the sad day when Kusum breathed her last.

As soon as she passed away, her parents, overwhelmed with the unbearable pain of losing their dear daughter, started weeping and crying aloud. Hearing that outburst of grief and sensing that the worst must have happened to Kusum, both Mr. and Mrs. Mukherjee ran up to the balcony of the second floor of their house from where they could see what was happening at Kusum’s home. After a little while, Mr. Mukherjee saw Khoka Maharaj walking out of that house, holding Kusum’s hand. Then both Kusum and Khoka Maharaj slowly moved out of sight walking down the street.

Mr. Mukherjee wondered whether he had been seeing some kind of illusion. So he asked Mrs. Mukherjee, “Did you see Khoka Maharaj walk out of that house holding Kusum’s hand? Or, is it that I have been seeing things?”

Mrs. Mukherjee replied, “No, it’s not an illusion! I also have seen the same thing. But I don’t know how it could be possible!”

Both of them wondered: “How and when did Khoka Maharaj arrive here? We are always informed when he comes to Ranchi for a visit. And every time he visits Kusum’s home he visits our home as well.”

Later they inquired of Kusum’s parents if Swami Subodhananda had come to their home the day Kus um passed away. And they were told that he hadn’t come. The Mukherjees were extremely surprised to hear that but kept silent. They didn’t tell anyone else about what both of them had seen on the day Kusum passed away.

After a few months Swami Subodhananda came for a visit to Ranchi. Then as usual he came to Kusum’s parents’ home to meet all the members of that large family. His words of consolation helped ease the grief of that bereaved family considerably.

After visiting that home, Swami Subodhananda came to see the Mukherjees. The Mukherjees were overjoyed, and they went on talking happily with the swami for quite a while, and listening to his spiritually inspiring words. In the course of their conversation, they also talked about what both of them had seen immediately after the death of Kusum.

Referring to that strange incident, they asked Swami Subodhananda, “Although you hadn’t actually come to Kusum’s home that day, immediately after Kusum’s death we saw you walking out of that home holding her hand. Will you please tell us why we saw that?”

Swami Subodhananda said to them that he was unable to answer their question at that time, but he assured them that he would tell them when he would be able to know what had actually happened that day.

Shortly thereafter Swami Subodhananda departed from Ranchi. After leaving Ranchi he went to Varanasi. He wanted to spend some time in Tapasya here. After a little searching, he found a room in a very solitary area of the city. The Ramakrishna Order has two Ashramas in Varanasi. Had the monks

of those two Ashramas come to know of his presence in the city, they would immediately come and take him to one of those Ashramas. In apprehension of that possibility, Swami Subodhananda took great care to conceal his presence in Varanasi from the monks of those two Ashramas. In order not to be seen by them, he also had to be very careful about his movements within the city. He took these measures because he wanted to perform his tapasya undisturbed and with all earnestness.

In performing tapasya one has to live alone, completely depending on God. Just to sustain his body, following the ancient monastic tradition, Swami Subodhananda would procure a little food every day from outside by begging. He would spend the rest of the day in the contemplation of God.

In this manner time went on. But after some days, Swami Subodhananda fell sick. He had a fever and his temperature was rising day after day. As a result, he was not in a position to go out every day and beg for his food. As the days went on, due to his persistent fever and lack of food, he grew weaker and weaker. Around this time he remembered that in the past, when he had once fallen ill in Ranchi, Kusum served him with great love and devotion until he recovered from that illness.

During this illness in Varanasi, one day he felt very thirsty. He got up from his bed with great effort and made an attempt to drink water. The drinking water was in his kamandulu2 away from his bed. After drinking a little water, while coming back to his bed, he fainted and collapsed on the floor. He remained in that state for some time. Then regaining consciousness, he went to his bed and tried his best to have a nap. While sleeping, he saw that Kusum was sitting by his bedside and was fanning him with a hand fan3.

Swami Subodhananda was extremely surprised to see her and asked Kusum, “How could you come here? Who brought you here?”

Kusum replied, “I was with Sri Ramakrishna, and he told me, ‘Khoka has fallen sick and he is remembering you. Go there and serve him.’ He has sent me here; that’s why I have come here.”

Khoka Maharaj asked her what kind of life she was leading in the Ramakrishna Loka4— the spiritual realm of Sri Ramakrishna.

Kusum said that she was leading a very peaceful life there, free from all kinds of worry and anxiety. Only peace reigns in Ramakrishna Loka. It is hard to describe through words the actual condition of that realm.

Then Swami Subodhananda asked her, “Well, can you tell me what happened to you when you died?”

Kusum replied, “During my illness, particularly during the last part of my illness, I was extremely worried. I was suffering terribly. Still I didn’t forget you. Then during the last moment of my life I saw that you had come to me. You told me, ‘Come on with me. Why should you wait any longer here?’”

“So I went with you. You held my hand and led me. After going a certain distance, when I looked toward you, I couldn’t find you. Instead, I saw Sri Ramakrishna in your place!”

“I asked him, ‘Revered Khoka Maharaj was all along with me. Where has he gone?’”

“Then Sri Ramakrishna said, ‘It was not Khoka whom you saw; it was I. I took the form of Khoka and led you from your home to this place. It wasn’t Khoka, but all along it was I who was accompanying you.’”

Then Kusum said to Swami Subodhananda that she was all the time with Sri Ramakrishna in Ramakrishna Loka, and was passing her days in great happiness and peace.

Hearing that, Swami Subodhananda said to her, “Very well, Kusum, now you may go back to where you have come from.”

When Swami Subodhananda narrated this incident to me, the meaning of Sri Ramakrishna’s utterance—“Those who will come ‘here’ will not be born again.”— became very clear to me. I understood that whoever would come to accept Sri Ramakrishna as his or her spiritual ideal through the gurus of the Ramakrishna Order would be liberated. They won’t be born again.

~~~

Footnotes:

* Kamandulu is a water pot that sadhus carry.

* Swami Subodhananda was not only a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, but also a spiritually illumined soul. He had experienced God. Therefore his mind had a preponderance of sattva guna. This is why whatever he experienced in his dream was nothing but the truth.

* The devotees of Sri Ramakrishna call Brahmaloka by this name.