It was the fith of June, 1872. Sarada was eighteen years old and Sri Ramakrishna thirty-six. The day was especially auspicious for worship of the Divine Mother. The Master made a special arrangement for the Shodashi Puja* (*The term refers to the worship of the Divine Mother in one of Her ten aspects, namely Shodashi, a woman as beautiful as a sixteen-year-old virgin.) Public worship performed with music and great pomp was going on in the Kali temple. But Sri Ramakrishna arranged a private ceremony in his room. Flowers, sacred bel leaves, food offerings, and other necessary articles were gathered. A seat was arranged for the image of the Goddess in its proper place. Sri Ramakrishna had asked Sarada to be present at the worship, which began at 9 P.M. After the preliminaries, the Master signed to her to take the seat reserved for the image. Already in a semi-conscious spiritual mood, she carried out his order as if under a spell. He invoked the Deity by uttering the following prayer:

   "O Divine Mother! O Eternal Virgin, possessor of all power! Please open the gate of perfection. Purify her body and mind, and manifest Thyself through her for the welfare of all."

   Through the prescribed rituals, he identified Sarada with the Deity and worshipped her according to the scriptural rules. All through the ceremony she was in a semi-conscious state, watching everything but powerless to move or utter a single word. Very soon Sri Ramakrishna and Sarada lost all awareness of the outer world. Both worshipper and worshipped were united on a transcendental plane. Some time passed in this way. It was long after midnight when Sri Ramakrishna regained partial consciousness of the world. Then he offered himself completely to the Divine Mother manifest in the person of Sarada, and surrendered at her feet his rosary, himself, and everything that was his, reciting the following sacred text:

   "O most auspicious of all auspicious beings, O Consort of Siva, fulfiller of all desires, O Refuge of all, O three-eyed* (The third eye, placed on the forehead between the eyebrows, denotes the eye of wisdom.) Goddess of golden complexion, O Power of Narayana, I salute Thee again and again."

Holy Mother p.42