The date

Ome Tavakathamritham Tapti-Javanam,

Kaviviritam Kalmashaaphaam

Sravana Mangalam Shrema Dāhatam

Bhuvigrinantii Bhrida Janah.

The date is Wednesday, 15th November 1882.

And the page is 154.

Sri Ramakrishna, accompanied by Rakhal and several other devotees,

came to Calcutta in a carriage and called for M at the school where he was teaching.

Then they all set out for the Maidan.

Sri Ramakrishna wanted to see the Wilson Circus.

As the carriage rolled along the crowded Chitpur Road, his joy was very great. Like a little child, he leaned first out of one

side of the carriage and then out of the other, talking to himself as if addressing the passersby.

To him, he said, I find the attention of the people fixed on earthly things. They are all rushing about for the sake of their

stomachs. No one is thinking of God. They arrived at the circus. Tickets for the cheapest seats were purchased.

The devotees took the master to a high gallery and they all sat on a bench. He said joyfully,

ha, this is a good place. I can see the show well from here. There were exhibitions of various

feats. A horse raced around a circular track over which large iron rings were hung at intervals. The circus

rider, an English woman, stood on one foot on the horse's back, and as the horse passed

under the rings, she jumped through them, always alighting on one foot on the horse's back.

The horse raced around the entire circle, and the woman never missed the horse or lost her balance.

When the circus was over and the devotees stood outside in the field near the carriage,

...