Vision Of The Divine Mother

Vision Of The Divine Mother

[To the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna, Ramaprasad has a special appeal, for the songs of Ramaprasad, the Kali worshipper, were an abiding inspiration in Sri Ramakrishna's life. In the days of his sadhana Sri Ramakrishna used to sing the songs of saints like Ramaprasad before the image of the Divine Mother as a part of his daily worship. The readers of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna know how often the Master would rise to his feet singing a song of Ramaprasad and go into samadhi.]

Sri Ramaprasad[1723-1803], the melodious mystic of Bengal, belongs to that wonderful galaxy of Indian mystics whose approach to the Divine found expression and consummation in songs and melodies which form a part of the spiritual heritage of India.

It is said that Ramaprasad had the first vision of the Mother in a garden near his house. As a result of it, even his physical appearance was transformed. At about that time a glow would radiate from his body. Everybody noticed it, but they did not know what was the cause of it.

After the vision of the Divine Mother, wonderful things happened in Ramaprasad's life, things usually called 'miracles'.  Once it came about that, owing to poverty caused by his unworldliness, he had to repair a hedge himself. His daughter, Jagadishwari, was helping him by returning the cord from the other side of the hedge. After some time Jagadishwari was called away. When she returned, she found that the work had gone on, and she asked with surprise who had been returning the cord all the time while she was away.

'Why, my child, you have been doing that all this time,' said Ramaprasad, intrigued at the question.

'No father, I was not here at all for a long time, having gone away on some other work.'

Then who had been returning the cord? For some time Ramaprasad sat dumbfounded. Convinced that the Divine Mother Herself, in the form of his daughter, was all the time helping him in repairing the hedge, in gratitude he broke into a song:

O mind, why do you keep
away from the Mother's feet?
O mind, meditate on the Mother,
You will get then mukti,
Tie then [the Mother's feet]
with the cord of devotion.
So bad is your luck that though having eyes,
You did not see that the Mother came as your daughter
And tied the hedge with the devotee.

-Ramaprasad - The Melodious Mystic
By Swami Budhananda