The Mad Saint of Dakshineswar

 A few days after the consecration of the Kali Temple at Dakshineswar, a strange man appeared in the temple garden. To those who saw him, he seemed to be mad. He carried a bamboo branch in one hand and a potted mango plant in the other, and wore torn shoes. He followed none of the usual social conventions. After bathing in the Ganges, he performed no religious ceremonies. He simply ate something he carried in the corner of his cloth and then entered the Kali Temple, where he sang hymns to the Divine Mother. Harding relates that the temple itself seemed to tremble while he sang. 

The man was not treated as an honored guest. He was not allowed to eat in the guest house, but he paid no attention to the insult. Instead, he went to the place where the dogs were eating scraps from discarded leaf plates and searched there for food. From time to time he pushed the dogs aside so that he could take some of the remaining pieces for himself. 

Haladhari, who was present at Dakshineswar, became curious about him and followed him after he had left the temple garden. He asked the strange man who he was and whether he was a purnajnani, a perfect knower of Brahman. The man quietly answered that he was. 

Sri Ramakrishna also went to see him. Although the man behaved like a madman toward other people, he spoke to Ramakrishna and the others with great wisdom. His appearance and conduct were so unusual that Ramakrishna wondered whether he too would have to pass through such a state. 

When the man was leaving, Haladhari followed him for some distance. At the end of the road, the stranger gave him a final instruction. He told him that when he could no longer make any distinction between water from a ditch and water from the Ganges, he would know that he had attained Perfect Knowledge. Having said this, he quickly walked away.

Harding places this story among the accounts of the many exalted devotees of the Divine Mother. She notes that the list is incomplete because many saints of Kali chose never to reveal their spiritual greatness and were satisfied to live hidden, holy lives. 

Source & Note

This article is based on Elizabeth U. Harding’s Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar (Nicolas-Hays, 1993). The material has been edited and adapted for this publication.