01-25-2009, 09:17 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Ramakrishna Paramhansa's Interest in food</b>
As interpreted by Osho
It is said about Ramkrishna that he was much too interested in food;
in fact obsessed. That is very unlikely. Even his wife, Sharada Devi,
used to feel very embarrassed; because he was such a great saint, only
with one flaw â and the flaw was that he was much too interested in
food. He was interested so much that while he was giving satsang to
his disciples, just in the middle he will say, "Wait, I am coming,"
and he will go to look into the kitchen, what is being cooked. He will
just go there and ask, "What is being prepared today?" and then will
come back and start his satsang again.
His closest disciples became worried. They said, "This doesn't look
good, Paramhansa. And everything is so perfectly beautiful â never has
there walked such a beautiful and perfect man â but this small thing,
why can't you drop it?" He will laugh and will not say anything.
One day his wife Sharada Devi insisted too much. He said, "Okay, if
you insist, I will tell you. My prarabdha is finished; and I am just
clinging with this food. If I drop that I am gone." The wife could not
believe this. It is very difficult for wives to believe in their own
husbands â even if the husband is a Paramhansa it makes no difference.
The wife must have thought that he is befooling, or he is trying to
rationalize. Seeing that, Ramkrishna said, "Look, I can see that you
are not trusting me, but you will know. The day I am going to die,
just three days before that day, three days before my death, I will
not look at the food. You will bring my thali in, and I will start
looking in another direction; then you can know that only three days
more am I to be here."
That too was not believed; they forgot about it. Then, just three days
before Ramkrishna died, he was resting, Sharada brought his thali, his
food: he turned over, started looking at the other side. Suddenly the
wife realized, remembered. The thali fell from her hands, she started
crying.
Ramkrishna said, "Don't cry now. Now my work is finished; I need not
cling." And exactly after three days he died.
He was clinging in compassion, just trying to create a bondage with
one chain. The imprisonment is gone; the prison has disappeared. Out
of compassion he was trying to cling, to linger a little longer on
this shore, to help those who had gathered around him. But it is
difficult to understand a Paramhansa. It is difficult to understand a
man who has become a siddha, a Buddha, one who has emptied all his
sanchita, all accumulated karmas. It is very difficult. He has no
gravitation, so Ramkrishna was clinging to a rock.
The rock has gravitation. He was clinging to a rock so that he could
linger on this earth a little longer. When you have samyama, a
consciousness fully alert, you can see how much karma is left. It is
exactly like when a physician comes and he sees and touches the pulse
of a dying man, and he says, "Not more than two, three hours." What is
he saying? By long experience he has come to know how the pulse beats
when a person is going to die. Exactly that way, a man who is alert
knows how much prarabdha is left â how much pulse â and he knows when
he has to go.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
As interpreted by Osho
It is said about Ramkrishna that he was much too interested in food;
in fact obsessed. That is very unlikely. Even his wife, Sharada Devi,
used to feel very embarrassed; because he was such a great saint, only
with one flaw â and the flaw was that he was much too interested in
food. He was interested so much that while he was giving satsang to
his disciples, just in the middle he will say, "Wait, I am coming,"
and he will go to look into the kitchen, what is being cooked. He will
just go there and ask, "What is being prepared today?" and then will
come back and start his satsang again.
His closest disciples became worried. They said, "This doesn't look
good, Paramhansa. And everything is so perfectly beautiful â never has
there walked such a beautiful and perfect man â but this small thing,
why can't you drop it?" He will laugh and will not say anything.
One day his wife Sharada Devi insisted too much. He said, "Okay, if
you insist, I will tell you. My prarabdha is finished; and I am just
clinging with this food. If I drop that I am gone." The wife could not
believe this. It is very difficult for wives to believe in their own
husbands â even if the husband is a Paramhansa it makes no difference.
The wife must have thought that he is befooling, or he is trying to
rationalize. Seeing that, Ramkrishna said, "Look, I can see that you
are not trusting me, but you will know. The day I am going to die,
just three days before that day, three days before my death, I will
not look at the food. You will bring my thali in, and I will start
looking in another direction; then you can know that only three days
more am I to be here."
That too was not believed; they forgot about it. Then, just three days
before Ramkrishna died, he was resting, Sharada brought his thali, his
food: he turned over, started looking at the other side. Suddenly the
wife realized, remembered. The thali fell from her hands, she started
crying.
Ramkrishna said, "Don't cry now. Now my work is finished; I need not
cling." And exactly after three days he died.
He was clinging in compassion, just trying to create a bondage with
one chain. The imprisonment is gone; the prison has disappeared. Out
of compassion he was trying to cling, to linger a little longer on
this shore, to help those who had gathered around him. But it is
difficult to understand a Paramhansa. It is difficult to understand a
man who has become a siddha, a Buddha, one who has emptied all his
sanchita, all accumulated karmas. It is very difficult. He has no
gravitation, so Ramkrishna was clinging to a rock.
The rock has gravitation. He was clinging to a rock so that he could
linger on this earth a little longer. When you have samyama, a
consciousness fully alert, you can see how much karma is left. It is
exactly like when a physician comes and he sees and touches the pulse
of a dying man, and he says, "Not more than two, three hours." What is
he saying? By long experience he has come to know how the pulse beats
when a person is going to die. Exactly that way, a man who is alert
knows how much prarabdha is left â how much pulse â and he knows when
he has to go.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->