The Brahmani even held a theological assembly where she convincingly argued that the peculiar behaviors of Ramakrishna were actually signs of God- consciousness. His fame began to spread as a result of that assembly but all he had to say about this proclamation of his divine status was, " Imagine that! And all along I had thought I was merely going mad." The near photographic memory that Ramakrishna had now came in handy as he absorbed the scriptures avidly and at a rapid clip that left his guru amazed. His guru however could not take him to the ultimate pinnacle, the experience of the Impersonal Absolute. She was rooted in a devotional tradition and could not bear that experience. He found the person who could give him that final peak in Tota Puri, an old grim lion of a saint from the Punjab who traveled over two thousand kilometers to meet this disciple he was commanded to help by an inner vision. Tota Puri was a naked yogi and he had practiced austerities for forty years to attain his realization. He had no time for, and patience with, Ramakrishna's Kali worship, having lived all his life with the austere brilliance of the Vedanta. The pupil proved to be a delight but he was unable to make the final stage to realizing the absolute. Each time he was on the verge of succeeding, he would have an all-too-real vision of Kali and fall back into comparatively lower consciousness. His astringent guru growled at him that he should use his power of discrimination as a sword and cut down this vision whenever it appeared. Ramakrishna did so, in an act of unthinkable bravery but the Absolute accepts no exceptions, and he entered into Samadhi. It took him one day to do so and it had taken Tota Puri forty years! All the rock-like certainty of the naked one was shaken by this perplexing miracle of a disciple, and when he left he was much more tolerant and kinder man, accepting that there be ways to god other than his own. This remarkable young man would not halt at that. He had explored his own religion to the full, and now he was curious about the faiths of others. He actually got himself converted to Islam and Christianity for brief whiles, practicing the disciplines rigorously. He would not even think of himself as a Hindu during these periods, refusing to live in the temple and not even worshipping his beloved Kali. He went to the extent of being prepared to eat beef, which even his Muslim teacher recoiled against. In three days he passed into the Muslim equivalent of Samadhi, the realization of Haq. The same experience came to pass when he explored the Christian faith except that this time the aftereffects lingered for a long time. He was so full of the experience of Christ that he would not even go to the temple until he had a strange vision of Jesus. This Jesus did not look anything like the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Aryan superman whose images were being distributed in India at he time. He saw a dark-haired, swarthy complexioned man as befits a Palestinian, which Jesus was. After experimenting such with many religious paths he made his famous formulation of God being like Water. It is called jal by the Hindu, pani by the Muslim and water by the English. We cannot imagine therefore that water is not jal and only pani or water. The substance is One under different names and everyone is seeking the same substance; only climate, temperament and names vary. So it is with God! Therefore let each man follow his own path for what matters here is the sincere desire to reach that Substance, not what it is called. This was the reason why he could not get along with the belligerent Dayananda Saraswati, the founder of the Arya Samaj. Though recognizing that Dayananda had "power", his favorite synonym for spiritual development, his gentle nature was aghast at the implacable fury of Dayananda when he met fools - and he met them everywhere! Intuitively realizing that he had something fresh to contribute to the spiritual life of a country that was stagnant, Ramakrishna prayed, "Oh Mother, let me remain in contact with men and not become a dried up ascetic." People came in hordes. It is always the bane of the religious life in India that no sooner is a person recognized as realized soul than he is hounded by miracle seekers and people seeking to bask in the aura of holiness. It is perhaps a true measure of the immense spiritual stature that Ramakrishna had that his reputation is not dependent upon miracles that he performed and boons for children that he granted. He shooed away such people; what he wanted was to communicate his realizations to people who desired God as much as he did. He never let any pretension pass unchallenged, however. Hearing somebody sing, "Think of Him and worship him at every instant of the day!" the irrepressible Ramakrishna said, "Change the words to 'Pray to Him and worship Him twice a day'. That's what you do so why fib to God?". After a period of sorting the chaff form the grain he got his band of devoted disciples. Many of them were strong personalities in their own right, and would have submitted only to a Ramakrishna. The publications of the Ramakrishna Mission provide ample details about the numerous disciples. The gospel of Shri Ramakrishna is also required reading for anybody who would like to know about his days as an inspired teacher. Towards the end of his life he got cancer of the throat. That did not prevent him from continuing to teach his disciples and always being on hand to help anybody who had a genuine spiritual concern. The saint was very concerned that there be no cult of Ramakrishna springing up after him but in this he was doomed to disappointment. India will worship the guru, even against his wishes even against his rough, ironical statement, " A devotee ought not to be a fool." However he had enough of the other sort, genuine tigers of the spirit, at the head of whom was the great Vivekananda. Shortly before he died he formally transmitted his store of spiritual energy into Vivekananda, as he had great works to do in the future. On Sunday, August 15, 1886 he passed away while in the last great samadhi of his life. He was the last of the great gurus who had been untouched by the modern world. Because he had lived, the land and the faith would be forever different.( Read more about Ramakrishna Mission in our Ashram Section. ) <<back Archive