The first day of January, besides being the New Year day, is of special significance to a Ramakrishna devotee. This is the day of the self-revelation of Sri Ramakrishna, when he became what is now popularly called the Kalpataru, “the wish-fulfilling tree.”
Kashipur Garden-House, in a suburb of Kolkata
It happened on January 1, 1886, at Kashipur where Sri Ramakrishna was undergoing treatment for his throat cancer. He felt somewhat better that day and came down from his room for a stroll on the spacious lawns of the garden-house. About thirty devotees were present and were scattered here and there in the garden.
As soon as they saw the Master, they all came near him and bowed down. The Master said to Girish, “What have you seen that makes you glorify me publicly before one and all?” Girish at once fell at the Master’s feet and said with folded hands and choked voice, “What more can I say about him, even a fraction of whose glory Vyāsa and Vālmīki miserably failed to express in their immortal epics and Puranas?” Hearing these words of Girish, the Master was deeply charmed and his mind soared to a high plane.
The kalpataru event occurred near the tree in the foreground
Seeing the divinely illumined face of the Master, Girish was thrilled and he cried out in great joy, “Glory to Ramakrishna! Glory to Ramakrishna!” and began taking the dust of his feet again and again. The Master looked at all present and said smilingly, “What more shall I say to you? May you all be spiritually awakened!” No sooner had he said these few words than he went into samādhi. What followed is best described in the words of Swami Saradananda, who had seen the whole episode from a distance:
When the devotees heard those words of blessings and protection from fear, they raised repeated cries of joy, exclaiming, “Glory to Ramakrishna.” Some of them saluted him, some showered flowers, some again came and touched his feet.
The Master touched the devotees in that state of samādhi and blessed them all. The effect was instantaneous. Swami Saradananda’s account continues:
....there arose by that marvelous touch a wonderful mood in the mind of each. Some of them began to laugh, some to weep, some to meditate, and some again to call aloud all others in order that they might also be blessed by receiving the grace of the Master ... and be sharers in the bliss that was overflowing.
On later enquiry it was known that the devotees blessed by the Master on that day had wonderful spiritual experiences and visions. Some felt bliss and a sort of divine intoxication, some experienced the creeping blissful sensation of the rising kuṇḍalini, some saw ecstatic visions of their chosen deities, and some saw divine light. All the experiences were unique, each in its own way. Although they differed in their content, the feeling of being filled with an extraordinary divine bliss was common to all.
As the Master had granted unstinted grace to one and all, some felt that he had revealed himself as the kalpataru on that day. The first of January thus came to be known as the Kalpataru Day. The Kashipur residence (which now houses a center of the Ramakrishna Order) became naturally the focus of attention. Sri Ramakrishna had stayed in the house for more than eight months and, to crown it all, had showered this special grace on the devotees on the 1st of January. Even today, devotees of Sri Ramakrishna from all over the world pour into the holy precincts of the Kashipur house to feel the living presence of the Master and to share in the spiritual legacy left behind by him. The climax is reached every year on the Kalpataru Day when thousands and thousands rush to Kashipur to recapture the “kalpataru grace” granted by the Master in 1886.
At this stage, it is imperative that we enquire into some fundamental questions: What exactly do we mean when we say that Sri Ramakrishna became the kalpataru on that occasion? Is it possible for us to derive any spiritual benefit from this incident separated from us by a distance of so many years? In other words, does the kalpataru Ramakrishna continue to shower his grace even today? And is this divine privilege extended to the devotees only on the 1st of January?
The kalpataru or kalpa-vṛkṣa is pictured in the Indian mythology as a wish-fulfilling tree. Standing under it, whatever we wish comes true; whatever we desire, we get. Indeed, one of the popular tales tells of a man resting under what eventually turned out to be a kalpataru. “Ah, if I had a beautiful bed to lie on!” he muttered to himself as he turned on his side. And what was his amazement when he discovered a fine bed waiting for him! He then thought of an attendant, and in no time an attendant stood before him. Whatever the man wished appeared before him instantaneously. “And now if a tiger were to come?” he mused. A tiger promptly showed up and lost no time in eating him.
Now, is Sri Ramakrishna a kalpataru of the traditional type, giving everyone whatever they desire? He doesn’t seem to be so. The kalpataru event at Kashipur clearly bears this out. Not all the people who received Sri Ramakrishna’s grace that day could be said to have had no worldly desires of any kind. Yet it was not the fulfillment of those worldly cravings that this kalpataru brought about.
What Sri Ramakrishna did was something quite different. On that day he cast off the thin human veil that covered his divine identity and filled the devotees with the strength of grace. Swami Saradananda therefore finds it more reasonable to call the event “the self-revelation of the Master.”
If we must use the word kalpataru with regard to Sri Ramakrishna, it would be more appropriate to say that he manifested himself as a “special” kalpataru that day. There are at least two points in which this special kalpataru differs from its conventional counterpart. First of all, it does not grant us everything that we seek. It gives us only that which would ultimately lead us toward peace and fulfillment. Thus the devotees and disciples of Sri Ramakrishna did not have all their desires fulfilled that day. The desires which would hinder their Godward march were not granted by him. It was, in fact, the extermination of those desires that this kalpataru specialized in.
Secondly, the conventional kalpataru required a person to come under it and wish for something. The Ramakrishna-kalpataru did not (and does not) always wait for the person to come to him, nor was (and is) it necessary always to explicitly express one’s desires in his presence. Ramakrishna could see through people as through a glass-case and knew, without being told, what they were in need of. “If you take one step towards God, he takes ten steps towards you,” he taught. In fact, his moving out to Calcutta toward the end of his life had this primary motive. It was more for the spiritual “treatment“ of his growing number of devotees than for his own physical one.
The Kalpataru-episode at Kashipur is not an isolated event in the Master’s life. He had blessed in the same way his inner circle of intimate devotees several times at Dakshineswar. The speciality of the kalpataru episode lay in the fact that the Master chose to shower his grace for the first time on a wider circle of people. Never before had he lifted the human veil covering his divinity in so obvious a fashion before one and all.
Now where does this leave us? How and when can this kalpataru grace descend in our own lives? We are told that divine grace is unconditional. Nevertheless, in our heart of hearts we do feel that without some sort of readiness to receive the grace, we make ourselves unfit for it. At least that is what the experience of Vaikunthanath Sannyal shows. He was among those fortunate few who received the kalpataru grace in 1886.
When Vaikunthanath approached the Master and begged for his grace, the Master said that he had already given him what he had wanted. “But please make me understand that I have received it,” he pleaded and, on being touched by the Master, a great revolution took place in his mind. Wherever Vaikunthanath looked, he beheld the figure of the Master lit up with a gracious smile. The experience continued unabated for some days. He found it impossible to carry on his work in the office and to attend to other duties. He even began to doubt his sanity and prayed to the Master, “O Lord, I am not able to contain this mental state. Please bring this to an end.” His prayer was answered; the vision and the mental state subsided gradually.
This shows that the receptacle should be strong enough to hold the divine grace. Unless the mind becomes sufficiently pure and is purged of desires, it is not possible to receive the grace and, if received—as in the case of Vaikunthanath—it is not possible to retain it. Even Sri Krishna had to withdraw his divine cosmic form (viśvarūpa) from the frightened Arjuna, and Ramakrishna had to restrain himself from giving the highest realization to Narendranath on the latter’s first visit to him. Thus preparing oneself to receive the grace is the first and foremost duty of spiritual seekers. To the extent they are able to do it, they come nearer to this special kalpataru. Perhaps it might be more accurate to say that the kalpataru moves nearer to them?
One cannot help imagining some sort of a connection between the New Year’s day and the day of “self-revelation of the Master.” The New Year’s day is a day of joy, hope and eager expectations. Everyone hopes to have a happy, prosperous and peaceful year ahead. In many countries an effigy of the “old man” is made with the past year inscribed on it. At midnight, amidst jubilant shouts, song and dance, the “old man” is burnt. “Ring out the old, ring in the new”—they say, as the New Year is ushered in. But just a year later this New Year loses its newness and we are ready for a yet another New Year.
Can we not have a New Year that would remain “new” always? Yes, we can but not in the physical sense. A New Year that is not bound by time is conceivable only in dimensions that transcend time. From the spiritual standpoint, the “New Year” signifying a new life, a new spiritual birth, becomes all the more meaningful, because its newness is not a temporary phenomenon. All our spiritual endeavors initially are meant to hasten the coming of this “New Year.” But in order to participate in the New Year’s celebration, the “old man” of worldly desires has to be set on fire by through discernment (viveka), dispassion (vairāgya), prayer (prārthanā) and devotion to God (bhakti).
When the mind becomes sufficiently pure, the “New Year” sets in. The Ramakrishna-kalpataru then approaches us and fills our hearts with divine grace. Equipped with this strengthening grace, we are able to combat the subtle obstacles that block the path to higher levels of spiritual life. We then find no difficulty in cleansing our minds of the subtle desires and impulses that are still present in our otherwise pure mind. Thus blessed, our every succeeding moment becomes converted into a New Year day, lifting us higher and higher towards perfection and fulfillment.
And that is the significance of the Kalpataru Day celebration on the 1st of January. It is a reminder to every devotee of the unforgettable event at Kashipur and of the redeeming power of the Lord. It is also a gentle hint to a serious spiritual seeker to look beyond the physical aspects of the episode and to concentrate on its spiritual implications. It is in this sense that the bestowal of the kalpataru grace is not limited to the few devotees that had gathered at Kashipur on January 1, 1886. It is as valid and true today as it was then. And it is to recapture that mood of participation in the inspiring event at Kashipur that the 1st of January holds a special meaning to a Ramakrishna devotee.