PUNDIT: “Does God listen to our prayers?”
MASTER: “God is the Kalpataru, the Wish-fulfilling Tree. You will certainly get whatever you ask of Him. But you must pray standing near the Kalpataru. Only then will your prayer be fulfilled. But you must remember another thing. God knows our inner feeling. A man gets the fulfilment of the desire he cherishes while practising sadhana. As one thinks, so one receives. (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
Once Hazra asked: “Does God listen to our prayer for bhakti?”
Master: “Surely. I can assure you of that a hundred times. But the prayer must be genuine and earnest. Do worldly-minded people weep for God as they do for wife and children?”
Sri Ramakrishna’s advice uplifted Hazra’s mind for a moment, and with humility he tried to take the dust of the Master’s feet. “What is this?” Sri Ramakrishna said, and drew his feet back. Disappointed, Hazra said to the Master, “Why should I not take the dust of his feet who has so kindly kept me with him?” Immediately the Master said: “Satisfy God and everyone will be satisfied. If He is pleased, the world is pleased.”
It finally dawned on Hazra that he was not pure enough to serve the Master or to touch his feet. So he decided to make his body and mind pure by swallowing the holy mud of the Ganges and repeating the mantra day and night. Entering his mosquito curtain, he lay down on a blanket and began to count his beads. He kept a lump of holy mud of the Ganges near his head, and after each rotation on the rosary he ate one small globule of the mud. He continued this throughout the day and all night. The all-knowing, compassionate Master became pleased with Hazra. He went to his room and called him, but Hazra continued his japa without responding. Then Sri Ramakrishna lifted the mosquito curtain and, taking hold of his hand, led him to his room. He then asked Hazra to massage his feet, thus fulfilling Hazra’s unspoken desire. (Taking the dust of the feet of a holy person is a symbolic gesture of reverence and humility, still widely practised in India today.) (Source: They Lived with God)