The scriptures did not quench Kali’s thirst for knowledge, so he desperately searched for a spiritual teacher. In June 1884 Kali went to Dakshineswar and met Sri Ramakrishna. In his autobiography, he describes their first meeting:
I became restless to find a guru who could teach me yoga. I confided my desire to my classmate Yajneshwar Bhattacharya, who was very fond of me. Yajneshwar told me: “I know a wonderful yogi. His name is Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, and he lives in Rani Rasmani’s temple garden in Dakshineswar. He has no pretensions. Many respectable people visit him, and he sometimes comes to Calcutta. Perhaps he can fulfill your desire to learn yoga.” My joy knew no bounds when I heard this from Yajneshwar, and I at once resolved to meet Sri Ramakrishna, though I had no idea where Dakshineswar was.
One Sunday morning I started for Dakshineswar by asking directions from people on the street. I crossed the Baghbazar bridge and walked north on the Barrackpore Trunk Road. It was quite a distance. I then asked a person on the road about the temple garden of Dakshineswar. He told me: “You have gone the wrong way. The Kali Temple is on the bank of the Ganges.” Finally I reached the temple garden at eleven o’clock. When I asked about Sri Ramakrishna, a temple worker informed me that he had gone to Calcutta that morning. I was exhausted, having walked all that way barefoot in the sun. Disappointed, I sat on the steps of Sri Ramakrishna’s northern veranda and wondered how I could ever go back to Calcutta. I was hungry and thirsty, I was dead tired, I had no money, I had not informed my family as to where I was going, I had no acquaintance in Dakshineswar, and moreover I had no strength to walk back to Calcutta. I began to cry.
Just then another young man arrived and asked me about Sri Ramakrishna, and I told him that he had gone to Calcutta. The young man was also disappointed. We then talked and got acquainted with each other. On inquiry I learned that his name was Shashi. He advised me about my circumstances, saying, “Have a bath in the Ganges, take prasad, and then return to Calcutta after a rest.” Later in the afternoon, when I expressed my intention to return to Calcutta, Shashi told me: “You should not return home without seeing the Master. Is there any certainty that such an opportunity will come again in your lifetime? Since you have come to see him with so much difficulty, it is better for you to wait.” I knew my parents would be worried about me because I had not told them where I was going. Understanding how I felt, Shashi said to me: “Look, brother, I have also come here without informing my parents. Don’t worry. We shall stay here tonight. The Master will positively return from Calcutta by late evening, as he never stays overnight at any devotee’s house in Calcutta.”
Shashi showed me around and in the evening took me to the Kali Temple to attend the vesper service. I felt tremendous peace and joy. Ramlal, the Master’s nephew, gave us some luchis and sweets for refreshments. We waited on the northern veranda for the Master’s arrival. Finally a horse carriage arrived at the northeastern corner of the Master’s room, and Shashi and Ramlal went to receive the Master. My heart was beating hard. I stood where I was, motionless. After getting down from the carriage, Sri Ramakrishna said, “Kali, Kali, Kali,” entered his room, and sat on his small cot.
Ramlal and Shashi informed the Master about me while I waited on the veranda. Then Ramlal came out and said that the Master was waiting for me. I entered the room and bowed down to him. The Master asked about me and I told him: “I have a desire to learn yoga. Will you kindly teach me?” The Master kept quiet for a while and then said: “It is a good sign that you have a desire to learn yoga at this young age. You were a yogi in your previous life. A little was left for perfection. This will be your last birth. Yes, I shall teach you yoga. Rest tonight and come to me again tomorrow morning.”
The next morning Ramlal told me the Master was waiting to see me. Entering his room I bowed down to him. He then asked me what I was studying, and I replied, “I am now in the Entrance class [tenth grade].” “Very good,” said the Master. Then he took me to the northern veranda. He asked me to sit on a cot. When I was seated in the lotus posture, the Master asked me to stick out my tongue. As soon as I did that, he wrote a mantram on it with the middle finger of his right hand and advised me to meditate on Kali, the Divine Mother. I did what he said. Gradually I lost outer consciousness and sat in deep meditation. I felt an unspeakable joy within. I don’t know how long I stayed in that condition. After some time the Master touched my chest and brought me back to outer consciousness. He then asked me what had happened, and I told him about my blissful experience during meditation. He was very pleased. Afterwards the Master instructed me on meditation and sang these lines of a mystical song:
When will you sleep in the divine chamber
With the clean [good] and the unclean [evil]?
When these two wives are friendly to each other,
Mother Shyama will be within your reach.
The Master further told me to meditate every morning and again at night and to report to him my visions and spiritual experiences. Then the Master asked me to go to the Kali Temple and meditate there. When I returned from the temple the Master gave me prasad and asked me to visit him again. He even offered to provide my fare if I could not get it from home. In the meantime a devotee had arrived by carriage from Calcutta to visit the Master, and the Master asked me to return home with that devotee. On my way back home I thought of the Master’s overwhelming love and compassion.
Meanwhile, a great commotion erupted at Kali’s home when he had not returned by Sunday afternoon. His mother cried, thinking that he might have drowned in the Ganges. His parents searched for him in every possible location. At last his mother remembered that recently Kali had inquired about the temple garden of Rani Rasmani, so she asked her husband to go to Dakshineswar. The next morning Rasiklal reached Dakshineswar and learned from Sri Ramakrishna that Kali had already left for Calcutta. While leaving Dakshineswar Rasiklal said to Ramakrishna: “Sir, Kali is my son. Please advise him to get married and become a householder.” “Your son is a great yogi,” replied Ramakrishna. “As he does not want to get married, what good would it be to force him to marry?” Rasiklal said, “It is the supreme dharma for a son to serve his parents.” Ramakrishna kept quiet. With great relief, Rasiklal returned home. (Source: God Lived with Them)