Swami Vivekananda exhorted, ‘The abstract Advaita must become living—poetic—in everyday life; out of hopelessly intricate mythology must come concrete moral forms; and out of bewildering Yogi-ism must come the most scientific and practical psychology—and all this must be put in a form so that a child may grasp it.’
Deriving inspiration from Swamiji’s words, Swami Vimurtananda, had taken efforts to weave the eternal values into wonderful stories so that anyone would be able to imbibe them and enrich their personal and social lives.
The valuable teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, and Swami Vivekananda which are most relevant to the modern age are embodied in these short stories endowed with literary grace, cultural enrichment and spiritual wisdom, inspiring our hearts and instructing our minds.
When Uma did not cry, everyone was puzzled. Prem was not only just her husband, but everything to her…. as she was for him.
She was with him like a research scholar with a scientist; a cherished friend to a great person; an ardent admirer of a poet; a keen disciple with a great Guru - like these and many more.
Prem and Uma were a young couple aged 30 and 26. They didn’t have a child. So what? They had an enormous amount of mutual trust, affection and intelligence for them to nourish together.
When Prem suddenly died, Uma did not cry. How did Uma resume her regular life within two weeks of her husband’s passing away? ‘My dear son has passed away, yet this girl without mourning his demise is talking to everyone, busy studying and sending emails…what a stone-hearted girl is she?’ lamented her mother-in-law about this attitude of Uma toward everyone. Was Uma so?
Immature people keep lamenting like this. For those who know how to lead life, happiness encourages them; grief makes them bold.
Uma had silently realized that such sorrows would lift her from soft feelings to harder reality and more consciousness. Even her joining research work in Chemistry was only to help Prem. How happy were their lives!
Prem was an atomic scientist. He had an extraordinary talent for splitting the atom and doing research on it. Interestingly, more than Einstein, he liked Sri Ramakrishna, the spiritual scientist.
He was more inspired by the research done by
Sri Ramakrishna dived deep into his mind with the research of science done by splitting the protons and neutrons.
In his study room, he had kept the portraits of Marie Curie and Pierre Curie, whereas his worship room was adorned with the portraits of Sri Ramakrishna and Holy Mother Sarada Devi.
As one goes deeper into research and spirituality, the intellectual power and bliss increases and naturally Prem had this wonderful experience quite often.
Prem and Uma spent four years together joyfully studying, appreciating, and gathering knowledge and reached the pinnacle of their happiness.
It was then the catastrophe struck!
When Prem had gone along with his colleagues to Beijing (China) for research work, tragedy struck in the form of a fire accident in their lab which not only
destroyed the lab, but also charred Prem and some of his colleagues to death that not even a piece of bone was found.
After hearing the news, Uma, along with her family, rushed to Prem’s office at Kalpakkam. When the news was confirmed, she lost consciousness.
When she regained her consciousness, everything seemed empty. Her heart was about to burst. Yet she had to live...
The car was returning to Chennai via Chengalpattu. Uma muttered something to others accompanying her in the car. ‘Where do you want to go?’ asked her sister-in-law.
‘I want to see Guru Maharaj and Holy Mother,’ Uma said weeping. In fact, she was referring to Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sarada Devi.
Her sister-in-law discouraged her, but Prem’s brother wanted to oblige.
The car halted in front of Ramakrishna Math, Chengalpattu, and Uma hurriedly got down and started running. She hesitated for a moment for some reason. Immediately she washed her hands and feet at the tap near the temple. After wiping her face clean, she sprinkled some water on her head, uttering ‘Mother Ganga!’.
She climbed the stairs to the temple. At every step, she felt as though she was getting heavier. The sorrow pierced her heart. The fire of bereavement burned her stomach. Legs tottered, eyes poured hot tears. She went into the temple and prostrated before the Deity.
Mentally hugging the image of the Holy Mother, and resting her head on Her lap, she asked, ‘Mother, why did you forsake me?’
She cried as though she was allowed to cry only once. She felt and cried as if she and Holy Mother alone were there.
Beside the image of the Holy Mother was the decorated image of Sri Ramakrishna. Looking at him, she bemoaned, ‘Guru Maharaj, fate has swallowed him!’
Four years of their life were spent as if it were marked for four principal goals of life (the purusharthas). Every incident of that period began to unfold in front of her mental eyes.
‘Is everything meaningless?’ she wondered.
Her long spell of weeping reduced her heart’s burden. She had no strength left even to cry. As the tears ran as a stream, her sorrow began to melt away. Her weeping stopped as she kept looking at the image of the Holy Mother.
She imagined as though the Holy Mother was asking her, ‘O child, your life too has become like mine?’ Did she feel as though the Holy Mother’s face reflected the grief she is experiencing? Silence prevailed, not of the cemetery, but of meditation. Did the Mother and the daughter begin conversing with each other?
Uma slowly began to recollect an incident in Holy Mother’s life. Oh! Is it happening here too? A young lady had come to meet the Holy Mother to express her grief due to the death of her first son.
Hugging her, the Holy Mother enquired, ‘Oh dear, did your son pass away?’
The young lady broke down. The Holy Mother too broke into tears, flowing like a waterfall, and asked her, ‘How are you going to bear the loss of your first child?’ No one had seen the Holy Mother cry like that, and the new devotees who had come were stunned.
‘Whose child had passed away?’ they began to wonder whether it was the lady’s or the Holy Mother’s. After some time, the young lady stopped crying… Did the Holy Mother take the burden onto her and was therefore now crying piteously?
The lady felt light in her heart and shed tears of ecstasy seeing the Holy Mother shed more tears for her son than she did. It was a wonderful experience for her.
She held the feet of the Holy Mother and trying to console her she asked, ‘Mother, joy and sorrow are inevitable in life. Will I be able to bear seeing you cry like this?’
The Holy Mother wiped the tears of the lady with her saree. Then feeding her with some Prasad, she said, ‘Please come here whenever possible.’ The lady was taken by surprise at this unprecedented love.
The Holy Mother kissing her said, ‘When you face any difficulty, remember that you have a Mother.’ She prostrated at the feet of Holy Mother and left.
When Uma remembered that incident, she felt as if Prem had come back alive.
‘Oh, Mother!’ that was the last time Uma moaned and wept.
She got up, and wiping off the tears, prayed to Sri Ramakrishna. The sacred ash and vermilion were kept there. She took the sacred ash and left like a breeze in the hot sun. With every step down the stairs, she felt greater steadiness of mind.
At that time, the brahmacharis of the Ashrama began to recite the Bhagavad Gita. She now began to appreciate the verse there: ‘Vaasaamsi Jeernani Yatha Vihaaya...’ The meaning of the phrase is: ‘Like how people wear new clothes by casting away the old ones, the Atman sheds the old body and accepts a new one.’
As it was getting late and with Uma not in sight, Prem’s brother and his wife became very much worried. Then when they saw her coming down the stairs, her brother said, ‘Uma, come on, let’s go.’ Her sister-in-law controlled her tears by holding her. Uma pressed her hand, as though to indicate her not to cry. She was in a deep silence.
‘Just a minute, brother, I will go and get a book,’ she said and left for the bookstall.
Chandrasekhar wondered, ‘What, she wants to read even during this grief?’
In the bookstall, Uma purchased the book, The Life of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi.
While seated in the car, she started searching for a page and after locating it, showed it to Chandrasekhar.
When Sri Ramakrishna had left the material world and attained Mahasamadhi, the Holy Mother had become grief-stricken. She had cried relentlessly. At that time, Sri Ramakrishna had appeared before her and had said the following remarkable words: ‘Sarada, why are you crying like this? Where have I gone? I have gone from one room to another…’ By saying so, he made her realize that, for a woman, her husband is immortal and indestructible and an ever-living phenomenon, that always can be felt in her heart.
Uma felt happy as if nectar drops were falling on her afflicted heart. When Chandrasekhar was shown that page, he too began to weep. Then, placing his hand on her head he said, ‘Don’t worry dear, we are all here for you… Henceforth you are like our daughter. Don’t worry about your future.’
She said to him, ‘Mother Sarada has taken off my sorrow. Prem has not gone anywhere… I am mentally with him.’
‘Don’t worry about your future,’ said Chandrasekhar gently.
‘After Sri Ramakrishna left the material world, Mother Sarada followed the path shown by him to get rid of her sorrow. Prem had given me a lot of input. With that I will continue my research,’ said Uma beaming.
Unable to realize her feelings, her sister-in-law told her, ‘If you feel like, you can go to your mother’s house for some time…’
‘No, Sister. Dr. Prem was not an ordinary scientist,’ Uma said softly, ‘Hereafter I am going to compile and publish all his notes and findings.’
Then closing her eyes, she started doing her japa. Chandrasekhar looked at her with awe and respect.
Now and then, people around Uma would cry, but she would always remain silent having transcended the grief... She already had become the beloved daughter of the Holy Mother!
Swami Vimurtananda
Ramakrishna Math, Thanjavur