A unique event took place on the Phalaharini Kali Puja day in June 1872 according to The Gospel of the Holy Mother. We present a few relevant passages of that event from Sri Ramakrishna the Great Master.
Shodashi Puja
A little more than half of the month of Jyeshta had elapsed. It was the new-moon day, the holy occasion for the worship of Phalaharini Kalika Devi. It was the day of a special festival at the Dakshineswar temple. Sri Ramakrishna had made special preparations on that day with a view to worshipping the Mother of the universe. These preparations, however, had not been made in the temple, but, privately, in his own room at his desire. It was 9 pm when all the preparations for the mystery-worship of the Devi were completed. In the meantime, the Master had sent word to the Holy Mother to be present during the worship. She came to the room and the Master started the worship. The articles of worship were purified by the Mantras and all the rites preliminary to the worship were finished. The Master beckoned to the Holy Mother to sit on the wooden seat decorated with the Alimpana. While witnessing the worship, the Holy Mother had already entered into a divine semi-conscious state. Not clearly conscious, therefore, of what she was doing, she, like one charmed with Mantras, sat facing north to the right of the Master, who was seated with his face to the east.
According to scriptural injunctions the Master sprinkled the Holy Mother repeatedly with the water purified by Mantras from the pitcher placed before him, then uttered the Mantra in her hearing and then recited the prayer: O Lady, O Mother Tripurasundari who art the controller of all powers, open the door to perfection! Purify her (the Holy Mother’s) body and mind, manifest Thy-self in her and be beneficent.
Afterwards the Master performed the Nyasa of the Mantras in the Holy Mother’s person according to the injunctions of the Sastras, and worshipped her with the sixteen articles, as the Devi Herself. He then offered food and put a part of it into her mouth with his own hand. The Holy Mother lost normal consciousness and went into Samadhi. The Master too, uttering Mantras in the semi-conscious state, entered into complete Samadhi.
A long time passed. The second quarter of the night was over and the third had far advanced, when the Master, whose delight was only in the Self, showed a little sign of regaining normal consciousness. Returning to the semi-conscious state again, he offered himself to the Devi. He now gave away forever at the lotus feet of the Devi his all—the results of his Sadhanas, his rosary, etc.—along with his self, and saluted her uttering the Mantras: O Thou, the auspiciousness of all auspicious things! O doer of all actions! O refuge! O the three-eyed One! O the fair complexioned spouse of Siva! O Narayani! I bow down to Thee, I bow down to Thee!
The worship was at an end. The Master’s Sadhana reached its culmination with the worship of the Ruler of the universe, the Divine Mother in the body of a woman, the embodiment of spiritual knowledge itself. ❑