Totapuri considered his mission accomplished and intended to leave. But he suddenly fell ill - it was an acute attack of dysentery. All his attempts to get himself in order through meditation were unsuccessful because he could not concentrate. He often had to jump up, interrupt his meditation and run out into the yard.
Ramakrishna told him:
-You have the wrong attitude towards matter. You separated Spirit from matter, and it weakened. Pray to the Mother Goddess and everything will work out for you.
- No way! - said Totapuri. - This is all nonsense. I can handle this. I've never had such problems!
But the disease did not subside. Ramakrishna asked him:
- Let me pray for you?
But Totapuri did not want to hear anything, stubbornly repeating that matter is not important, the main thing is Spirit. Ramakrishna said that everything in this world is divine, matter is the manifested Spirit, and if you separate it from matter, then it will die. There must be harmony. But Totapuri did not give up, because his whole teaching boiled down to the need to separate Spirit from matter, and agreeing with Ramakrishna meant admitting defeat. This story continued for several days, and Totapuri, exhausted by constant problems, gave up. The two of them sat down and began to pray to the mother goddess, after which the illness subsided.
As Totapuri left, he hugged Ramakrishna and said:
- I am eternally grateful to you. I realized that life is one and indivisible, and it must be loved in all its manifestations.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru