Sri Ramakrishna would describe to his devotees the irresistible attraction which the devotees feel for God. In this connection, he used to narrate a very interesting incident.
One day a man was strolling in his garden when he saw a peacock. He fed the peacock a pill of opium. It was around 4 o’clock in the afternoon. The next day, at the same time he was strolling in the garden and was surprised to see the peacock coming to the same spot in the garden where he had fed it with opium the previous day at exactly the same time. It had felt the intoxication of the drug and returned just in time to have another dose.
Sri Ramakrishna
Such incidents occur frequently in the lives of devotees. Mahendranath Gupta, popularly known as Master Mahashay in the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda circle of devotees, had a similar experience. He was in a tremendous state of turmoil at one point of time in his life. He had decided to commit suicide. By sheer chance, he came in contact with Sri Ramakrishna. The first meeting was brief. But after returning home, the one thought that dominated his mind was how to meet Sri Ramakrishna again. Soon he went to meet him for the second time and then Sri Ramakrishna narrated the above story.
Great saints and Men of God have irresistible power of attraction. The devotees who once have the good fortune of meeting such personalities feel an uncontrollable desire to meet them again and again. It is not merely due to the power of samaskaras. The attraction is due to a supreme spiritual power possessed by such saints. Apart from attracting spiritual aspirants, such great souls quite often bring about a tremendous transformation in their lives. For example, Mahendranath Gupta gave up the idea of ending his life and took to a life of serious spiritual striving after meeting Sri Ramakrishna once.
– by Swami Shantatmananda, published in the ‘Sacred Books of the East’ column, Sunday Guardian, 31st Aug 2013