SRI RAMAKRISHNA -- THE CELESTIAL DANCER

SRI RAMAKRISHNA -- THE CELESTIAL DANCER

IN ANCIENT INDIA DANCE WAS ONE OF THE WAYS TO EXPRESS THE EXUBERANCE OF INNER JOY IN THE DIVINE LORD. Without joy one cannot dance. The music & the rhythm lend the support. The movements form a visual appeal in space.

It is said that Shiva, the Lord of dance dances in Mount Kailash & his tandavas (dances) are many. When Sri Krishna danced, the Gopies felt the divine attraction & danced with Him. The moon-lit Ras-lila on the banks of the Yamuna has made Vrindavan the earthly abode of Lord Vishnu.

  

In the present age we read about Thakur's ecstatic singing & dancing.  When he danced, the devotees too felt ecstatic & danced with him. Men, women, children would gather round him to taste the bliss that emanated from him. Here is a description of Thakur's dance through M. :

"Presently Trailokya began to sing. Sri Ramakrishna danced, intoxicated with divine love. Many tlmes he stood still in samadhi, his eyes fixed, his face beaming. Coming down a little from the state of ecstasy, he danced again like a mad elephant. Regaining consciouness of the outer world, he improvised lines to the music:

O Mother, dance about Thy devotees!

  Dance Thyself & make them dance as well.

  O Mother, dance in the lotus of my heart;

   Dance, O Thou the ever blessed Brahman!

   Dance in all Thy world - bewitching beauty.

An indescribable scene. An exquisite & celestial dance of a child completely filled with ecstatic love of God & identified heart & soul with the Divine Mother! The Brahmo devotees danced around the Master again & again, attracted like iron to the magnet."  THE GOSPEL , 632.

Swami Saradananda depicts an immortal scene of the Master's uplifting & captivating dance during a Brahmo festival: "High waves of heavenly bliss were surging there in strong currents. All were lost in the Kirtan & laughed, wept & danced. The Master was dancing in the centre, now going forward with rapid steps, now going backward. In whichever direction he was going, the people there,  as if enchanted, made room. An extraordinary tenderness, sweetness & leonine strength was visible in his every limb. That superb dance! In it there was no affectation, no unnatural gestures. One noticed in it a succession of natural poses & movements of limbs as a gushing overflow of grace, bliss & sweetness, the like of which may be noticed in the movements of a large fish, long confined in a mud puddle, when it is suddenly let loose in a vast sheet of water--- swimming in all directions, now slowly, now rapidly, & expressing its joy in diverse ways. IT APPEARED AS IF THE DANCE WAS THE DYNAMIC BODILY EXPRESSION OF THE SURGE OF BLISS, OF THE REALITY OF BRAHMA. Emanating from him, a bright stream of divine Bliss seemed to be enabling the devotees to see God face to face. If enabled those with lukewarm dispositon to intensify their fervour, idle minds to go forward to the realm of spirituality. Those extremely attached to the world...illumined by his purity, their minds ascended to high spiritual level. SRI RAMAKRISHNA THE GREAT MASTER, VOL.2, 801--802.

THE MASTER AT KAMAL KUTIR: There is only one photograph of Thakur taken during his 

ecstatic dance. It was at Kamal Kutir  the house of Keshav Chandra Sen. It was September 21, 1879 --autumn season which is very sacred in Bengal because of the arrival of Mother Durga. The Master's carriage arrives at Kamal Kutir. Hridayram supports the fragile delicate body of the Master as he alights from the carriage. The Master is seated on a floral carpet with white sheet spread on it. The Brahmo devotees surround him with wonder. After a while Thakur wants to hear their singing. They sing Brahmo songs, then on Sri Krishna, Mother Kali to the accompaniment of Mridanga & Khol. The devotional music threw Sri Ramakrishna into ecstasy. He suddenly gets up uttering the word 'Om', dances & goes into samadhi. It was at this poignant moment that The Bengal Photographers of Kolkata captured Thakur's image. His face is lighted up with an ecstatic smile & eyes are half- closed. Blessed were those present, witnessing the dance of an Incarnation during his ecstasy. The superb expression of the Divine Self in man through the art of dance & music!  The photograph still bewitches  & casts ehereal vibrations on the onlookers. Swami Premananda speculated that the meaning of Thakur's upraised right hand & the lower left hand is: 'Every thing is there(up, right hand) not here in this world(left hand). RAMAKRISHNA AS WE SAW HIM, 463.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA WAS NOT A PROFESSIONL DANCER  BUT A DIVINE DANCER. When he danced all divine moods manifested in his body. His dance was rhythmic, natural & aesthetically beautiful. The sound of Mridanga or Khol, hearing or singing of Srl Krishna, or Maa Kali, would throw him into a rapturous mood. And he would dance in an exuberance of joy: sometimes like a mad elephant, sometimes like a fish swimming about in great delight & sometimes with the stride of a lion. The young disciples, who later became the monastic disciples, & the household devotees watched those scenes in utter astonishment. Later they said that his words might fade from the memory but who could forget Thakur's beautiful dancing form.

In the Lotus of our hearts if Thakur dances, all the knots of our heart would be cut asunder & it would become an ABODE OF PEACE & BLISS.