In search of God, Vivekananda, while still a young seeker, once visited Maharishi Devendranaha. It was a dark night, Maharishi sat in a boat on the waters of the Ganges.
Vivekananda swam to the boat, pushed the door of the dwelling made on it, and saw that Maharishi was in meditation. He started shaking him by the shoulders. Maharishi opened his eyes and was very surprised to see a wet, trembling young man in front of him.
“Tell me,” asked Vivekananda. -Have you seen God?
“Many have asked this question,” said the Maharishi, “but no one has done it this way.”
Despite the fact that the question was asked at such a late hour and in such strange conditions, Maharishi was calm. After hesitating a little, he said:
“Sit down, my son, calm down, and we’ll talk.”
- Now there is nothing to say. Your hesitation gave me the answer,” said Vivekananda, jumped into the water and swam to the shore.
In desperation, Maharishi called him, but Vivekananda did not return.
Two months later he came to Ramakrishna and asked the same question:
- Is there a God and have you seen Him?
Ramakrishna listened to him and replied:
- There is nothing but God! What you want to know lies beyond words.
Vivekananda asked:
-Have you seen God?
- Yes, I saw it! That's how I see you!
Now it was Vivekananda's turn to be surprised. He wrote in his diary: “Until now I have surprised my teachers. It never occurred to me whether I was ready to seek God, but this man treated me completely differently than others. Everyone I asked had the same words with them. Ramakrishna had experience."
It is said that Vivekananda gave Ramakrishna a lot of trouble. Physically, he was a very strong person and practiced boxing and football. Ramakrishna was a frail man, short in stature and completely illiterate. Vivekananda, talking with Ramakrishna, always tried to convict him of ignorance of the Vedas. And when this happened again, Ramakrishna suddenly hit him on the forehead with his knuckles. As a result of this, Vivekananda plunged into deep samadhi and remained in this state for quite a long time. Having come to his senses, Vivekananda sat at the feet of Ramakrishna and remained his disciple until the end of his days.
One day Vivekananda asked his Master about his first steps towards God. And he told him how, as a young man, he served as a priest in the temple. There were many images of God. And so, looking at them, he wondered what was behind these images.
This idea took possession of the young man, and his whole life was now focused on it. All day long he could only think, repeating with tears: “Is it true that you exist, God, or are you just a beautiful fiction?” This idea became more insistent every day, and soon he was unable to think about anything else. Leaving his post, he retired into the forest and completely forgot about himself, not noticing either the sunrise or sunset, forgetting about food, sitting in a frenzy. During this period, one of his relatives looked after him lovingly. He covered him up if it was cold, put pieces of food in his mouth, and he automatically chewed. This is how day after day passed. And when evening came, the sounds of evening bells from the temple reached the forest, and deep sadness overwhelmed him.
“Another day has passed, oh God,” he yearned. - You didn't come again. Another day of this short life has passed, and I have not known You,” exclaimed Ramakrishna. And in mental anguish he threw himself face down on the ground and cried. So days, weeks, months passed - in the constant striving of the soul to comprehend the Truth. And such aspiration could not fail to bear fruit.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru