Cossipore Garden House (Ramakrishna Math, Cossipore , Udyanbati) (Downloaded from official RKM, Cossipore Udyanbati site) When Sri Ramakrishna was suffering from serious illness, he was removed for treatment from the Kali Temple of Dakshineswer to Shympukur in the month of October, 1885. A little more than three months after, when it was found that medicine and diet did not effect any improvement, the devotees at the suggestion of Dr. Mahendra Lal Sarkar, brought him in the afternoon of the 11th December, 1885 to the Cossipore Garden House which stood on the broad road that ran through the northern part of Calcutta and joined the Baghbazar area with Baranagar, three miles away from the city. This garden was free from stuffy and polluted atmosphere and the devotees were extremely happy when they saw that the master was pleased to find the fresh air and solitude of the place abounding in fruits and flowering plants. The late Gopal Lal Ghosh, son-in-law of Rani Katyayani, was the owner of the garden. The devotees hired the house from him for the residence of Sri Ramakrishna on a monthly rent of Rs. 80/- (Eighty) for which an agreement was signed at first for six months and thereafter for three months more. The site was a little more than eleven Bighas, four Kathas and two Chhataks in size. The place was surrounded on all sides by a high wall. There were side by side three or four small rooms used as kitchen and store about the middle of the northern part of the boundary wall. In front of these rooms, there stood, on the other side of the garden path, a two-storied residential building with four rooms below and two above. Of the ground floor rooms the central one was like a big hall. On the northern side of it, there were two small rooms contiguous to each other. Of these, the western room had a wooden staircase leading to the first floor while the eastern one was reserved for the Holy Mother. The devotees used to sit in the aforesaid spacious rectangular hall lying east-west. The room on the southern side of the hall was used for the accommodation of the young devotees who attended on the Master. On the western side of the house, there was a path running north-south. At the southern end of this path, Sri Ramakrishna blessed many devotees in an ecstatic mood on the 1st of January in 1886. There was a small verandah on the eastern side of the room which was meant for the attendants. Equal in dimension to the ground floor hall, there was above it a room on the upper floor, where Sri Ramakrishna used to live. On the southern side of it, there was an open walled terrace of a small size where Sri Ramakrishna sometimes walked and sat. The northern side of the roof above the room enclosing the staircase as well as the room of the same size as that of the one reserved of the holy mother on the ground floor, were used for the purpose of bathing of the master as well as for the accommodation of one or two attendants at night. About The Kalpataru event (Downloaded from official RKM, Cossipore Udyanbati site) On the first of January , 1886, Sri Ramakrishna feeling much better ,came out from the house through the western gate of the ground-floor hall at about three In the afternoon with a view to have a walk In the garden and slowly proceeded towards the gate along the garden-path. Reaching midway between the garden house and the gate, He found Girish, Ram, Atul and others sitting under a mango tree on the western side of the path. At the sight of Sri Ramakrishna, all the devotees present drew near the Master and saluted him. Sri Ramakrishna suddenly said to Girish, “Girish, you, I find, say to one and all everywhere so many things about me(that I am an incarnation of God) what have you seen and understood (about me) that you do so?” Girish knelt before him with folded hands and said in a voice choked with emotion. “What more can I say of Him, whose greatness Vyasa and Valmiki could not find words to express?” At this profound faith of Girish, Sri Ramakrishna became deeply moved and said. “What more shall I say to you? May you all be blessed with the spiritual awaking?” Saying this, He fell into a state of trance. Girish,at the sight of the Master’s face beaming with a divine radiance, shouted in joy at the top of his voice- “ Jai Ramakrishna”,” Jai Ramakrishna” (Victory to Bhagavan Ramakrishna ! Victory to Bhagavan Ramakrishna!)and took the dust of his feet. Thus blessed by Sri Ramakrishna, the devotees became mad with joy. Some showered flowers on him, and some saluted him and some touched his feet. Thereafter Sri Ramakrishna touched them all one by one with appropriate blessings. This wonderful touch brought about a revolution in their minds and, as a result, some laughed, others wept in joy, some sat down to meditate, while a few began to call others loudly to come and be blessed. Being questioned about their experiences on this occasion, some said that they felt a sort of pleasing intoxication; other said that they had within them a clearer vision of their chosen deities, which they could not formerly have during the time of meditation; Still others said that they had felt a rush of a strange current and ineffable bliss not hitherto experienced; while some others said that, with the closing of their eyes, they had a vision of an effulgence not seen before and also felt an unspeakable joy.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 16:58:22 +0000
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