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CHAPTER VIII

FEAST AT THE GARDEN-HOUSE OF SURENDRA [1]

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Sri Ramakrishna was invited by one of His beloved disciples, Surendra, a householder, to a feast made in his garden-house at Kankur- gachi near Calcutta.

These feasts were invariably occasions for the gathering of His disciples, devotees and ad- mirers. They were times of real festivity and rejoicing, during which the Holy Name of God was chanted to the accompaniment of Mridangas and other musical instruments. All the while the Bhagavan could be seen at His best, sing- ing, dancing with the joy of the Lord, and fre-quently lost in that blessed state of ecstasy or Samadhi. When the singing of devotional


  1. See note page 177.

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