Today morning was planned to go to Dhakshineshwar – the place where Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was a priest. The temple is on the banks of the Hoogly river. Right across the Hoogly river, is Belur Matt, the place Vivekananda built.
No phones were allowed in the temple. There was a huge queue to see the goddess Durga in her angry pose (with blood on her tongue, hands, legs, killing Mahisasura. However, if you are ok to see the goddess from the side view, there was another queue and that was empty. We did the quick visit after which my wife wanted to see Durga’s front pose also. Honestly, I could not find any rationale to stand in a long queue to see a person who is angry with blood on her hands. I walked around the temple for a while, the found a pillar where I rested my back, sat down and slept.
Later we roamed around the temple for a while, saw the room Ramakrishna used to stay in (pretty nice & comfy I would say). The temple in-itself could be maintained much better both from an upkeep and hygiene perspective.
Next we went to Belur Matt. We took the Hoogly ferry to reach there. That place was all about Vivekanada. The room he stayed in, the trees he sat under, the place he met his disciples, the place where he meditated, yada yada. Got an overdose of it. I was tired of hearing everything he did and seeing where all he did what he did.
There was a Pandal there too, inside the Matt. The irony is, Ramakrishna never wanted a Matt or temple built in his name, Vivekananda built both, Vivekananda never believed in Idol worship. However, the Pandal with the idol of Durga is right inside Belur Matt.
No matter what you preach, people will do what they want and make you also god. That is the spiritual lesson learnt.
