Adbhutananda

“Latu is the greatest miracle of Shri Ramakrishna. Having absolutely no education, he has attained to the highest wisdom simply at the touch of the Master.” Swami Vivekananda

It did not matter that Swami Adbhutananda, or Latu Maharaj had absolutely no knowledge of even the alphabets. He attained such a state of sainthood that great scholars and philosophers would sit at his feet and listen spellbound to his words of wisdom. It was nothing short of miracle (Adbhuta, i.e., wonder) that Shri Ramakrishna brought about such a radical change in the life of an orphan boy who had started his life in Calcutta as a domestic help.

The early name of Swami Adbhutananda was Rakhturam, which means “O Rama, be thou the protector of this child”, later shortened to Latu. He was born under humble circumstances in a remote village of Bihar. He lost his parents at a tender age; his uncle later brought the boy to Calcutta. Good fortune favoured him by getting him a job in the house of a householder devotee of Shri Ramakrishna. The religious temperament in the house helped unfold his religious nature. The frequent errands to Dakshineswar brought him into close contact with Shri Ramakrishna who graciously accepted him as a disciple. Later on, Latu was blessed with the opportunity to be able to live with him and serve him. Since the Guru was everything for him, his service to the Master was exceptionally devoted. Latu’s lack of formal education made him unique among Shri Ramakrishna’s direct disciples. Perhaps because his mind was uncluttered by dry intellectualism and not trained to doubt, he absorbed the instructions of his Guru with unquestioning simplicity. Once the Master told him in an ecstatic mood, “One day the gems of the Vedas and Vedanta will pour forth from your lips.” Thus Latu was commissioned and blessed by the Master. This prophecy later came to be fulfilled to the letter. It would seem as though Shri Ramakrishna intended to demonstrate to the modern world through Latu that God can be realized without the study of books and scriptures, that spiritual wisdom comes not through intellectual knowledge but through inner realization.

After the demise of the Master, Latu embraced monastic life and became ‘Swami Adbhutananda’, meaning, “He who finds bliss in the wonderful nature of the Atman.”  His life was a long stillness of prayer. Though he lived a mendicant’s life, he seldom moved from Dakshineswar, the great seat of the Master’s sadhana, his holiest place of pilgrimage.

Though Latu Maharaj was never closely connected with the works of the Ramakrishna Mission, as they caused distraction to the inner flow of his spiritual life, his love for his brother-disciples, especially for the leader, whom he would call “Loren” or “Loren bhai”, brother Naren, in his distorted pronunciation, was very great. He used to say, “I am ready to take hundreds of births if I can have the companionship of ‘Loren bhai’”. Swamiji infinitely reciprocated the love of Latu Maharaj. One of the qualities of a highly evolved soul is simplicity; and simplicity is one of the most difficult qualities to imitate, for it is spontaneous. The childlike simplicity, guilelessness and open-mindedness of Latu Maharaj made a special appeal to his brother disciples. Now and then Swamiji would lovingly address Latu Maharaj as “Plato” distorting the name “Lato” as affectionately pronounced by the Master, into that famous Greek name, bearing indirect testimony to the wisdom the latter had attained. He had a direct and uncompromising approach to spiritual life. Receiving a sharp rebuke from the Master for sleeping early one evening instead of practicing meditation, he gave up sleeping altogether at night. Swami Saradananda wrote: “Latu was invariably seen praying and meditating the whole night and sleeping during the day. His life was a liberal example of the teaching of the Gita: ‘In that which is night to all beings, the man of self-control is awake; and where all beings are awake, there is night for the sage who sees (2.69).’”

Latu Maharaj lived a very stern acetic life. He was a person of few words and few needs. He preferred to be alone, absorbed in his own spiritual thoughts. His mind was unceasingly active in thinking of God almost all the time. For an unusually long period of nine years he was persuaded to live at the house of Balaram Bose, a great householder devotee of Shri Ramakrishna. The natural inclination of most sages is to remain in undisturbed communion with God, unknown to the world. He protected himself from peoples’ intrusions, by appearing stern outwardly but beneath the rough exterior he hid a very soft heart. Little boys freely played with him, scrambled over his shoulders, and found in him a delightful companion. People, irrespective of religion, caste or creed had access to him and found in him a true friend, philosopher and guide. Even persons who were lowly and despised by all found a sympathetic response from his kindly heart. It was during this period that many earnest seekers would approach him for resolving their doubts and inner turmoil. Though he had no academic education, yet due to his direct access to the Fountain-head of Knowledge, he could solve the most intricate points of philosophy or the complex problems of spiritual life in such an easy way that one felt he saw the solution as tangibly as one sees material objects. Latu Maharaj could instinctively see the inner significance of scriptures because of his own spiritual realisations. For him the perception of the Ultimate Truth was as clear as daylight.

The main strength of Latu Maharaj was his absolute dependence on the Master. He would always think that the Master would supply him with everything that he needed or was good for him. Later, he would say to those who sought guidance from him, “Your dependence on God is so very feeble. If you do not get a result according to your liking, in two days you give up God and follow your own plan as if you are wise than He. Real self-surrender means that you will not waver in your faith in the face of great losses.” There was nothing in the world that could tempt Latu Maharaj away from his faith in God and the Guru.

He spent the last few years of his life in the holy city of Varanasi. During this period he did not like to mix much with people. But if he would talk, he would talk only of higher things. He would grow warm with enthusiasm while talking of the Master and Swamiji. Latu Maharaj said one day: “There are three possible relationships one can have with God: ‘My God’, ‘I am God’, and ‘I am God’s’. The last one is best, because it does not tempt pride.” In answer to a devotee’s question: How can we love God or surrender to Him, without seeing Him? Latu Maharaj answered: “Don’t you send your application for a job to the manager of a company without ever seeing him? Your interview with the manager depends upon sending your application to him. You write the application thus: ‘Sir, please appoint me for the job; I shall be extremely happy to serve you; I promise my unswerving obedience to you,’ and so on. And you write all this without ever having seen the manager, don’t you? Similarly, you can send an application to the Lord. However, this application is not to be written on paper, but on the pages of one’s mind: ‘O Lord, may I never forget Your name. I take refuge in You. Please assign me to Your service and destroy my ego and doubts. You are my master, guru, father, mother, and all in all. I am Your child. Make me your instrument. Do not delude me with Your bewitching maya. O my sweet Lord, I have not seen You; I have only heard Your name. Please make me Your own.’ You will have to pray like this daily. Only then will He choose to bestow His grace on you.”

The amazing life of this great soul bears ample testimony to the unique alchemist that Shri Ramakrishna was! Out of dust he could create gold. He transformed an underprivileged, unsophisticated, illiterate orphan boy, wandering in the streets of Calcutta for a means of livelihood, into an enlightened saint who commanded the spontaneous veneration of one and all. Throughout his life, Latu Maharaj’s mind was filled with the thoughts of Shri Ramakrishna. Latu Maharaj completely fulfilled the name “Adbhutananda”, one who enjoys the wonderful bliss of Brahman. Michelet wrote in The Bible of Humanity, “Man must rest, get his breath, refresh himself at the great living wells, which keeps the freshness of the eternal.” Swami Adbhutananda was indeed one such fountainhead of spirituality.