A Rock in the Eye

Ramakrishna was a priest of the Hindu goddess Kali. It was his responsibility to care for the statue of the goddess in the Dakshineshvar Temple, to bring offerings to her and chant her mantras.

Ramakrishna took his duties very seriously (his brief forays into other religions, which I mentioned in Chapter 6, " One God with Many Names ", notwithstanding). He hardly had a life apart from the goddess. He would speak about her, sing about her, meditate on her and worship her in virtually every waking moment. He experienced the statute of Kali as actually alive and would see her leap down from the altar to dance around the temple.

A tantric master named Bhairavi Ma noticed Ramakrishna's extraordinary devotion and began calling people's attention to the presence of the great saint among them. As an advanced adept, she could see that his intense devotion was not only giving Ramakrishna divine visions but carrying him into very high meditative states.

Then a master named Tota Puri visited the Kali temple. He was an adept in the Advaita Vedanta tradition. This, to remind you, is the tradition of Adi Shankaracharya which encourages mediators to go beyond every trace of duality (See Chapter 9, " Truth Is a Multi-Layer Cake"). Tota Puri scolded Ramakrishna for his attachment to Kali's form. He explained that if Ramakrishna really wanted to know the goddess's true nature, he must go beyond the image of her he cherished in his mind.

Tota Puri took a sharp rock and pierced Ramakrishna's forehead at the "third eye", the point between his eyebrows. " Next time you go into meditation", the Vedantin instructed ", focus behind this point. If a picture of Kali appears in your mind, take a sword and hack her to pieces".

Ramakrishna was shocked at this advice, but he obeyed. When he next sat for meditation, he brought his full awareness to his ajna chakra, the center behind the eyebrows. When he saw his beloved Kali approach, he destroyed the image, moving through the visual image he held of her in his into the formless reality beyond.