Nevertheless, even such a spiritual man as Annada was taken aback by the strange visions and dreams he began to have: A vision of four girls carrying an image (murthi) of the Divine Mother Kali down a Calcutta street, invisible to all but Annada, yet so real that he folded his palms and, to the puzzlement of passersby, bowed to thin air. Two dreams of a sannyasin telling him to shave his head and bathe in the Ganges, to which the outraged Annada replied, "Reverend Sir, if you again talk of head-shaving, I shall hold you by the neck and push you out of the room." Then, stranger yet, dreams of Sri Ramakrishna himself, so real that Annada was convinced the venerable saint, though long departed from this life, had been in the room with him.

When the order came from Sri Ramakrishna to shave his head and bathe in the Ganges, Annada could hardly refuse. Sri Ramakrishna then told him to go to the Eden Gardens, a magnificent British-built public garden in Calcutta, and to look there for a murthi of the Divine Mother where a coconut tree and a pakur tree grew together. There, at the bottom of a pond, Annada and three companions found the image. A commemorative plaque marks the spot today.

Copyright 1999, Daksineswar Ramkrishna Sangha Adyapeath. If you have any questions about this page, contact mashani9(AT)adyapeath(DOT)org. For questions about Adyapeath contact kalidas99(AT)adyapeath(DOT)org.