In 1880 Sri Ramakrishna visited his parental home in Kamarpukur, and from there he went to Sihar, the home of his nephew Hriday. He heard about the devotees of Phului-Shyambazar (a village a few miles from Sihar) who passed their days singing kirtan. Natavar Goswami of Belte, a village adjacent to Shyambazar, who had previously met the Master, invited him to sanctify his home. The Master went there with Hriday and later narrated his experience: “I had a vision of Gauranga before I entered the village, and I realized that I should meet Gauranga’s devotees there. For seven days and nights I was surrounded by a huge crowd of people. Such attraction! Nothing but kirtan and dancing day and night. People stood in rows on the walls and even were in the trees. When God incarnates Himself on earth He attracts people through the help of Yogamaya, His divine power. People become spellbound.”
That unceasing religious fervour became a threat to Sri Ramakrishna’s health, so Hriday secretly took him to Sihar. It was here that Hazra first met the Master. Hazra had met Hriday before and had also heard about the Master. Hazra’s village was only a few miles from Hriday’s, and as soon as he heard that Sri Ramakrishna was staying in Sihar, Hazra went to visit him. Hazra asked the Master: “Does God have ears? I call Him so much, but I don’t get any response. Does He really listen to my prayers?” Sri Ramakrishna smiled and said: “Listen, this is why your prayer does not reach God. You are a son of a farmer. You have seen how the peasants irrigate their sugarcane fields, digging a channel from a reservoir. If there is any leak in the channel, how can one expect the water to reach the field? All the water in the reservoir can be pumped out and still the field will remain dry. Desires are like the holes of the channel. You practise japa and austerities, no doubt, but they all leak out through the holes of your desires. Your prayers will not reach God until your mind is free from worldly desires.”
Although Hazra understood Sri Ramakrishna’s words, it is quite certain that they had little effect on his doubting nature. (Source: They Lived with God)
M.: “Hazra is a chatterbox. He won’t achieve anything unless he becomes silent.”
Master: “Now and then he comes to me and becomes mellowed. But he is a pest; again he argues. It is very hard to get rid of egotism. You may cut down an ashwatha tree, but the next day a sprout will spring up. As long as the roots remain, the tree will grow again.” (Source: They Lived with God)
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- Its true form is not comprehended here, nor its end, nor its origin, nor even its existence. Having cut down this firm-rooted Aśvattha with the strong axe of detachment, one should pray, “I take refuge in that Primal Being from whom has streamed forth this eternal activity,” and seek that Goal from which they who have reached it never return. (BG 15.3-15.4)