Chapter (অধ্যায়): SAYINGS AND UTTERANCES PAGE-417Page: 417 of 548
76. After hearing of the death of Shri Durga Charan Nag (Nag Mahashay):
"[He] was one of the greatest of the works of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa." (CWSN 1: 129)
77. About Shri Ramakrishna's transformative power, Swami Vivekananda said:
"Was it a joke that Ramakrishna Paramahamsa should touch a life? Of course he made new men and new women of those who came to him, even in these fleeting contacts!" (CWSN 1: 130)
78. While speaking on the true spirit of a Sannyasin, Swami Vivekananda said:
"I saw many great men in Hrishikesh. One case that I remember was that of a man who seemed to be mad. He was coming nude down the street, with boys pursuing and throwing stones at him. The whole man was bubbling over with laughter while blood was streaming down his face and neck. I took him and bathed the wound, putting ashes on it to stop the bleeding. And all the time with peals of laughter he told me of the fun the boys and he had been having, throwing the stones. 'So the Father plays', he said.
"Many of these men hide, in order to guard themselves against intrusion. People are a trouble to them. One had human bones strewn about his cave and gave it out that he lived on corpses. Another threw stones. And so on. . . .
"Sometimes the thing comes upon them in a flash. There was a boy, for instance, who used to come to read the Upanishads with Abhedananda. One day he turned and said, 'Sir, is all this really true?'
"'Oh yes!' said Abhedananda, 'It may be difficult to realize, but it is certainly true'.
"And next day, that boy was a silent Sannyasin, nude, on his way to Kedarnath!