Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's parables are famous and cherished. Little glimpses from the Master's life often read like parables themselves. One such, narrated as a Chinna katha (little story) by Sri Sathya Sai of Puttaparthi, has been republished in the Sai organization's Heart to Heart on line publication this morning. It is my privilege to share it with all of you.
THE POTENT POWER OF DEVOTION
Once in Calcutta (now Kolkata), in the Kali temple constructed by Queen Rasmani, an idol of Lord Krishna fell down and the foot of the Lord was broken a little.
Since many elders declared that according to the scriptures a broken image should not be worshipped, the Queen made arrangements to get a new one made by sculptors.
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa heard of this and he reproached the Queen, saying: "Maharani (Your Highness, the Queen), if your son-in-law breaks his leg, what will you do? What is the correct thing to do? Bandaging the foot and setting it right, or discarding the son-in-law and getting another instead?" The elders and pundits were dumb-founded; the broken foot of Lord Krishna was set right and the image was installed and worshipped as before. When devotion is purified and is ascendant, the Lord will be patent even in a broken idol. This too is the dharma (right conduct) declared in the scriptures.
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written by karigar, 2009-09-26 06:58:34
But seriously, the whole idea of Invocation & 'De' invocation of murthis in temples is to make a conceptual & practical distinction between the form/sculpture, & the paramatma/devata residing within.
Any one not well versed in these ideas & practice would be forgiven to think that Sri RK was more fixated on the form/matter than the spirit, by discouraging the change of Murthi, which is so commonly accepted as practical & philosophically ok....
Just my teeny weeny 'dissent' from the story's moral...
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written by narensomu, 2009-09-22 23:38:15
Great Masters like Sri Ramakrishna make profound things seem very simple.
They indeed must be.
Thanks for reminding us about this story.
One can imagine the shock Rani Rasamani Devi would have felt when she heard the master's simple but powerful statement.The message hits home, a bulls eye.
Regards
ns
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You have seen the fine distinction between the make up of the Paramahamsa himself and his view of the queen's requirement as a devotee.
Please read the last two sentences of the story which are a literal translation from the chinna katha as it was narrated.I have italicized two words.
Sri Ramakrishna did not need the temple or the Murti. The queen and her retinue, in their devotional path, had learned to depend on the Murti as
Bhagawan's representation. The sage knew that their focus would shift to the queen's role as provider of a fresh Murti and the attendant pomp on the renovation rites, which too would be within the dharma if the focus did not shift from the devotional path per se.
A quick repair to the idol would help retain focus in the existing path and this too would be admissible to the dharma.
Thanks for leading on to the above thought process.
Partha.