THE life of Sri Saradamani Devi, the Holy Mother as she is reverentially referred to, is really an enigma.

She was always found to be engaged in all sorts of ordinary domestic work. She used to scour the floor, wash the vessels, cook the food, and serve the guests. To the superficial observer she was like any other village woman. Yet, mighty spiritual giants like Swamis Vivekananda and Brahmananda used to shake with pious emotion in her presence. They took care to ceremonially purify themselves before they visited the Mother. All the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna felt like children before her. Her word was a command to them. It was not that she commanded respect merely because she was Sri Ramakrishna's wife. Her light was not 'borrowed' in any sense. She was of the very stuff of the Divine Mother. It was the intrinsic glory and greatness of her life, and her natural gifts and her native perfection, that made people adore her as the Holy Mother. Human life mirroring the Absolute---that was Sri Sarada Devi. Rarely in the record of religious biography, do we come across such a high manifestation of Divinity as was found in her. Her divine life reads almost like an ancient legend, belonging apparently to the realm of mythology.

Normally ordinary people's minds gravitate to the material plane. So it is impossible for ordinary people, nurtured in secular and sensate cultures, to understand the depth of the Holy Mother's spiritual stature. They can hardly appreciate, much less understand, a divine character of immaculate purity like her. The veil covering Sri Sarada Devi's face, was really a curtain over the supernal splendour of her inner life. Swami Saradananda once remarked:

"We could get some inkling at least, of the greatness of the Master, but of this lady we cannot understand anything. He has drawn the veil of Maya so thick around her that none can see through it and have a glimpse of her greatness".

We shall here attempt, in our frail and halting manner, to get a glimpse of this magnificent character which played a significant role in the expansion of the Ramakrishna Mission's work. The great significance of her life is to be seen in the fact that the Sri Ramakrishna's ideal reached its consummation in the Holy Mother. Her life was a continuation and an increasing unfoldment of the Master's message. She lived her life in such a way as to exemplify the teachings of the Master. All she said and did was founded upon his teachings. She was God-centred and God circumferenced. Her love for God matched her love for man. In her life we see both husband and wife making God their joint venture.

The demise of the Master in 1886 cast a deep gloom over her. She had no zest for life. But ecstatic trances, visions and assurances gave her peace. She lived the rest of her life fulfilling the mission of the Master. She was left behind, by him, to continue to exemplify his great renunciation and catholicity. Hers was a life of silent sacrifice and of penance of the highest order. She merged her personality completely in that of the Master. Beginning as his disciple she assimilated all his ideas and made them her very life and being. She was found even to excel her illustrious husband in qualities like forgiveness, affection and renunciation. She became the consoler, guide and inspirer to many seekers and devotees. The Master had a clear idea of her spiritual ministry and so after preparing her for her future work, he actually commissioned her saying, "The people round about live like worms in darkness. You should look after them." Again towards the end of his life he asked her one day, "Won't you do anything ? Am I to do all?" She replied, "I am only a woman. What can I do?" But the Master remarked, "No, no. You have much to do." And she did much indeed.

Sri Ramakrishna had earmarked the role of Swami Vivekananda as the great awakener of the people. At first the new orientation to monastic life which the Swami brought about was not relished by all. The Holy Mother, while staying at Nilambar Babu's garden house at Belur in 1893, had seen in a vision, the Master's body dissolving in the Ganga, and Vivekananda sprinkling the holy water on innumerable devotees, who were all liberated. The Holy Mother, therefore, knew what the role of Swami Vivekananda was in spreading the message of the Master. She gave her unqualified support to all his schemes. It was with her blessings that he went to the West. She was a perennial source of inspiration to the monks of the Order. The fountain of her inspiration never dried up. She was an incarnation of mercy. The flow of her divine motherliness soothed scorched people. Everyone who came near her went away refreshed and invigorated. This aspect of her compassionate nature and her self-effacement have been beautifully described by Swami Premananda in the following moving words:

"Who has understood Holy Mother? You have heard about Sita, Savitri, Vishnupriya and Radharani. The Holy Mother occupied a far higher place. Not even the slightest trace of divine power is noticeable in her . . . What a supreme power that! Don't you see how many people are rushing on to her! The poison which we cannot digest, we just pass on to the Mother and she gives refuge to everyone. Infinite is her power! Unbounded her mercy! Victory unto the Mother i What to speak of us! We have not found even Sri Ramakrishna doing this. Infinite patience, unbounded mercy, and above all the negation of even the slightest trace of egoism!"

Really she was a rare instance of a person who had conserved tremendous spiritual energy and at the same time appeared utterly tranquil.

To her, Sri Ramakrishna was always a living entity. She wanted that the Order must cherish the living personality of the Master in every way. She would advise people to take refuge in Sri Ramakrishna in the midst of all suffering, and in the face of all dangers and difficulties of life.

She came to manifest the Motherhood of God. The essence of Motherhood is love---pure and serene. The most dominant trait in her character, overshadowing every other feature, was her motherly love and concern. Her readiness to help all, irrespective of caste, creed, or colour, even irrespective of their merits, was most striking. She was sweetness incarnate and grace abounding, and her simple words went home to the hearts of the listeners, giving them complete solace and satisfaction. She laid the highest emphasis on the supreme fact that the Ramakrishna Order is not in brick and mortar, but in love, sympathy and affection. It is really on her bed-rock of motherliness that the Ramakrishna Math and Mission stands established.

Her pure, immaculate nature radiated purity and serenity all around. People learnt from her the lessons of humility and modesty, chastity and devotion to God, self-abnegation and ungrudging endurance of pain and suffering, maternal love and selfless service. She was indeed the embodiment of these sterling virtues. She was overwhelmingly greater than what people understood her to be. The events of her life give us just a peep into her worth. The divine glow of the spirit of her hallowed life can only be partially revealed through words. Her noble teachings were summed up in her life, and her life was a beautiful poem.

The monastic order of Sri Ramakrishna has been hailed as unique and as containing, within itself, the energy and faith of the East and the West. At the nascent stage it had to fight with many forces, both within and without. Swami Vivekananda felt that the sublime philosophy of Vedanta should be pressed on to the service of the people. He wanted to transfer the emphasis of religion from metaphysics to a life of practical righteousness, and from individual salvation to the salvation of all beings. He did not want the force of Vedanta to be dissipated in mere speculation. But his co-workers were disturbed by doubts as to the relevance of social service to a spiritual life. The monks of the other Orders also did not approve of the new orientation. In their opinion such a new path could not be reconciled with traditional monasticism. To them it smacked of the Western way.

New ideas are never easily accepted by a conservative society. Even after many years of its acceptance by the Ramakrishna Order as its creed, there were many even among the devotees of Ramakrishna, who thought that social service was a complete departure from the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna. The selfless activities of the Benares Sevashram were a target of attack by one such devotee who happened to witness the whole-hearted service that was being rendered to the poor folk lying on the pavements of the city. This devotee was highly venerated by monks and lay devotees and so the workers who were charged with the spirit of neo-Vedantism were rather nonplussed. Fortunately they referred the matter to the Holy Mother who happened to be at Benares at that time. She instantaneously replied in unambiguous terms that the work started by Swamiji was in complete conformity with the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna. She paid a visit to the Ramakrishna Mission hospital and, as a token of her appreciation of such dedicated service to God in man, paid a cash contribution of Rs. 10 to the Sevashram fund. This money gift is preserved with the greatest care in the Sevashram. The Holy Mother's gift gave the workers a fresh impetus, as they believed that she knew Sri Ramakrishna better than anybody else.

After his second visit to the West Swami Vivekananda went to Mayavati on 3rd January, 1901. The Ashram there was established at a high altitude on the Himalayas. Its principle was to eschew all ceremonies relating to worship. All the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna---Eastern and Western had to devote themselves there to the exclusive practice of Advaita. But to his surprise the Swami saw in the Ashram a small shrine with a photo of Sri Ramakrishna which was worshipped every day with flowers and incense. He severely reprimanded the inmates for violating the rules of the monastery. Although he did not specifically direct them forthwith to stop such ceremonial, it was stopped by the inmates at once out of deference to his views. One of his disciples, however, wrote to the Holy Mother at Jayrambati seeking her advice in the matter. She wrote: Sri Ramakrishna was all Advaita and preached Advaita. Why should you not follow Advaita? All his disciples are Advaitins."

The Holy Mother not only gave her blessings to all the Mission's philanthropic activities, but she was also keenly interested in the details connected with them. Whenever any worker used to visit her after doing some relief work, she would invariably ask the worker for details about the people's woes and the help given to them by the Mission. She advised that the ordinary run of monks would do well to take to such activities with earnestness, as it would be well-nigh impossible for them to be absorbed in meditation round the clock. "That is why", she said, "my Naren started all these centres for work. Our organization will function this way. Those who cannot adjust will leave."

In the Holy Mother one finds the two elements which have given the Ramakrishna Movement its religion and its philosophy.

• The religious element centres round the life and personality of Sri Ramakrishna and expresses itself through worship and ritual.
• The philosophical element is derived from his teachings.

Philosophy and religion are complementary to each other. Philosophy is barren without religion and religion without philosophy leads to bigotry and harmful sentimentalism. Philosophy gives a rationale to spiritual life. The Holy Mother respected ritual. She used to carry a photo of Ramakrishna always with her and her nature, in weal and woe, was to surrender everything to the Master. His picture was to her the living God Satchidananda. His image was Guru and God---both personal and impersonal.

She combined in herself tradition and Catholicism and this she did in the light of the Master's teaching. Although she was very punctilious about traditional ways of life, especially in the matter of food, she never hurt the sentiments of anyone. She moved very closely with Miss Macleod, and Mrs. Ole Bull and Sister Nivedita, thus giving a lead to Hindu society in the matter of absorbing foreigners into its fold. In this connection Swamiji wrote to Sashi Maharaj, "Mother is here, and the European and the American ladies went the other day to see, her. And what do you think ? Mother even ate with them! Isn't that grand!" Sister Nivedita wrote: "This gave us all a dignity and made my future work possible in a way nothing else could have done."

On November 12, 1898, the Holy Mother graced the occasion of the opening ceremony of the Sister's School with her presence. On that occasion she spoke the following blessing in a low voice: "May the Divine Mother of the universe bless the school. May the girls trained here, be ideals for the society." To Nivedita, this benediction was a sublime gift. She could not imagine a better omen than this. The Holy Mother received her foreign devotees with motherly affection.

It has been well said that the Holy Mother, the high priestess of Ramakrishna the power, in her quiet but dynamic way, became the most potent instrument for imparting spiritual perfection amongst innumerable householders. While Swami Vivekananda spread the message of the Master far and wide, it was the Holy Mother who silently sent it deep into the hearts of thousands.

In other words while Swami Vivekananda spread the message horizontally, the Holy Mother implanted it vertically.

This article is from Swami Tathagatananda's book, Glimpses of Great Lives, pp. 1-7, published by The Vedanta Society of New York.

Comments on this article can be sent to: VedantaSoc@aol.com

Books by Swami Tathagatananda:

1. The Vedanta Society of New York -- A Brief History, 2000
2. Mahabharat--Katha (Bengali), 1998
3. Ramayan Anudhyan (Bengali), 1996
4. Healthy Values of Living, 1996
5. Meditation on Swami Vivekananda, 1994
6. Meditation on Shri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, 1993
7. Glimpses of Great Lives, 1989
8. Shubha Chinta (Bengali), 1988
9. Smaran--Manan (Bengali), 1987

You can order these books from The Vedanta Society of New York.

Other books on Vedanta can be purchased from any Vedanta Center.

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