In the beginning of September 1885 Sri Ramakrishna was moved
to
Syampukur. Here Narendra organized the young disciples to attend the
Master day and night. At first they concealed the Master's illness from
their guardians; but when it became more serious they remained with him
almost constantly, sweeping aside the objections of their relatives and
devoting
themselves whole-heartedly to the nursing of their beloved guru. These
young men, under the watchful eyes of the Master and the leadership of
Narendra, became the antaranga bhaktas, the devotees of Sri
Ramakrishna's
inner circle. They were privileged to witness many manifestations of
the
Master's divine powers. Narendra received instructions regarding the
propagation of his message after his death.
The Holy Mother — so Sarada Devi had come to be affectionately known
by Sri Ramakrishna's devotees — was brought from Dakshineswar to look
after the general cooking and to prepare the special diet of the
patient. The
dwelling space being extremely limited, she had to adapt herself to
cramped
conditions. At three o'clock in the morning she would finish her bath
in
the Ganges and then enter a small covered place on the roof, where she
spent the whole day cooking and praying. After eleven at night, when
the
visitors went away, she would come down to her small bedroom on the
first
floor to enjoy a few hours' sleep. Thus she spent three months, working
hard, sleeping little, and praying constantly for the Master's
recovery.
At Syampukur the devotees led an intense life. Their attendance on the
Master was in itself a form of spiritual discipline. His mind was
constantly
soaring to an exalted plane of consciousness. Now and then they would
catch the contagion of his spiritual fervour. They sought to divine the
meaning of this illness of the Master, whom most of them had accepted
as an
Incarnation of God. One group, headed by Girish with his robust
optimism
and great power of imagination, believed that the illness was a mere
pretext
to serve a deeper purpose. The Master had willed his illness in order
to
bring the devotees together and promote solidarity among them. As soon
as
this purpose was served, he would himself get rid of the disease. A
second
group thought that the Divine Mother, in whose hand the Master was an
instrument, had brought about this illness to serve Her own mysterious
ends. But the young rationalists, led by Narendra, refused to ascribe a
supernatural cause to a natural phenomenon. They believed that the
Master's
body, a material thing, was subject, like all other material things, to
physical
laws. Growth, development, decay, and death were laws of nature to
which
the Master's body could not but respond. But though holding differing
views, they all believed that it was to him alone that they must look
for the
attainment of their spiritual goal.
In spite of the physician's efforts and the prayers and nursing of the
devotees, the illness rapidly progressed. The pain sometimes appeared
to be
unbearable. The Master lived only on liquid food, and his frail body
was
becoming a mere skeleton. Yet his face always radiated joy, and he
continued to welcome the visitors pouring in to receive his blessing.
When
certain zealous devotees tried to keep the visitors away, they were
told by
Girish, "You cannot succeed in it; he has been born for this very
purpose —
to sacrifice himself for the redemption of others."
The more the body was devastated by illness, the more it became the
habitation of the Divine Spirit. Through its transparency the gods and
goddesses began to shine with ever increasing luminosity. On the day of
the
Kali Puja the devotees clearly saw in him the manifestation of the
Divine
Mother.
It was noticed at this time that some of the devotees were making an
unbridled display of their emotions. A number of them, particularly
among
the householders, began to cultivate, though at first unconsciously,
the art
of shedding tears, shaking the body, contorting the face, and going
into
trances, attempting thereby to imitate the Master. They began openly to
declare Sri Ramakrishna a Divine Incarnation and to regard themselves
as
his chosen people, who could neglect religious disciplines with
impunity.
Narendra's penetrating eye soon sized up the situation. He found out
that
some of these external manifestations were being carefully practised at
home,
while some were the outcome of malnutrition, mental weakness, or
nervous
debility. He mercilessly exposed the devotees who were pretending to
have
visions, and asked all to develop a healthy religious spirit. Narendra
sang
inspiring songs for the younger devotees, read with them the Imitation
of
Christ and the Gita, and held before them
the positive ideals of spirituality.