Evolution of love

Shashi

A real lover always takes the position of a giver; the lover enjoys giving everything – body, mind, possessions, wealth – to the beloved. Like his cousin Sharat, Shashi was not well-to-do.
He knew that the Master was very fond of ice, so he bought a big piece and carefully wrapped it with paper and then with a towel, so that it would not melt.
He walked over six miles from Calcutta to Dakshineswar. It was a hot summer day and the scorching sun blistered his body.
When the Master saw him, he began to say: “Ah! Ah!” as if he were in pain. When Shashi asked him what was the matter, the Master said that as he looked at Shashi’s body, his own began to burn. The Master was overwhelmed by Shashi’s sincerity and love. Strange to say, the ice did not melt at all on the way.

For almost two years Shashi regularly visited the Master at Dakshineswar and acquired great spiritual treasures from him. In the middle of 1885 Ramakrishna developed throat cancer and the devotees arranged for his treatment in Shyampukur, Calcutta.
Holy Mother took the responsibility of cooking special food for the Master and some young disciples began to nurse him under Narendra’s leadership. Shashi would eat at home, then serve the Master at night. Shashi was then preparing for his B.A. examination. His parents had great expectations for him because he was their eldest son and a brilliant student. Now Shashi faced a great dilemma: should he serve his Guru or build his career through study?

His discriminating mind selected the first one. He stopped going home, gave up his studies, and became a fulltime attendant of the Master. … When his father begged him to return home, he replied: “For me the world and home are both like a place infested with tigers”. His father even used a mantram to get his son back home, but this failed. It is said that on one occasion Shashi’s father criticized Sri Ramakrishna in front of him. Immediately Shashi was ready to stab him, saying: “Who is my father?” His father was pleased … and said to him: “Yes, your devotion to your Guru is genuine”. …

The Master was taken to the Cossipore garden house on 11 December 1885. Shashi followed the Master like a shadow. All of the attendants were great devotees, but Shashi’s devotion was special. He was the very embodiment of service. He was convinced that service to the guru was the highest form of religion. He practised no spiritual discipline, knew no other asceticism, travelled to no holy places. Forgetting his personal comfort, food, or rest, he was always ready to serve the Master. His life’s purpose was to alleviate the Master’s suffering. Indeed, he would have given his life, if he thought that would cure him. Everyone marvelled at his indefatigable energy, his endurance and his boundless love for the Master.

Love is reciprocal. Ramakrishna poured his fountain of love into his disciples and captivated them forever. It was winter, when the Master arrived at the Cossipore garden house. Once, in the middle of the night, Shashi left the Master’s room to clean the commode; he wore only a thin cloth. On his return he saw that Ramakrishna, who was very sick, had somehow crawled across the room and was reaching up for a shawl that was hanging on a clotheshorse. At this painful sight Shashi thought to himself: “Alas! In my hurry I forgot to cover him sufficiently, so perhaps he is cold and trying to get a shawl”.

“What are you doing, sir?” – Shashi asked him in a scolding tone: “The air is very chilly, and you should not be up. Why did you not ask me for the shawl?” Filled with love and concern, the Master held out his shawl, and then said in a feeble voice: “I felt cold as you went out almost bare-bodied on such a cold night, so I picked up this shawl for you. Please take this”. Shashi was overwhelmed.

One winter day the Master expressed a wish to eat jamruls (star apples). It is a juicy tropical fruit, only available in summer. Shashi knew, that the Master was a man of truth, and that such person’s wish could not go unfulfilled. Moreover, the scriptures say that the nature fulfills all the wishes of a Knower of Brahman. Shashi inquired and discovered that someone had a jamrul tree that produced fruits out of season. He collected some jamruls and offered them to the Master. …

Shashi’s life was a glowing example of the “servant” attitude towards God. He forgot hunger and thirst, sleep and rest, and above all his body. At times the Master had to tell him: “Please go and eat; now I am all right. I don’t need you at present”. Sometimes Shashi would fan the Master nonstop for hours. Feeling Shashi’s aches himself, Ramakrishna would take the palm-leaf fan from his hand and give it to Latu. Towards the end of his life the Master said to Shashi: “Look, you boys have tied me with this loving service. If you let me go, then only can I go”.