Sri Ramakrishna is the Incarnation of

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1 SRI RAMAKRISHNA : THE WORLD TEACHER RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY Sri Ramakrishna : The World Teacher SWAMI GIRISHANANDA Sri Ramakrishna is the Incarnation of God of this age. To talk about his life and teachings is always a great privilege and a rewarding experience. And to contemplate his words is to soothe and purify our mind because his words have the sweetness of nectar. This sweetness is described by Akshaya Sen in his book Sri Ramakrishna Mahimà thus: Dead trees come to life, water springs forth from stones, human suffering melts away kindling devotion at Thy feet such is the ambrosial sweetness of Sri Ramakrishna s words. Our scriptures are replete with stories of infinite grace showered by the Lord on all beings. To re-affirm our faith in His grace, the Lord, out of His own free will, incarnates Himself in different ages and preaches to the humankind the immortality of the soul or the àtman. They come to remind us that Godrealization is the goal of human life. This realization, among other things, can be attained through bhakti or loving devotion. Indeed, God s intrinsic nature is to redeem all beings by love. We all know the account of Sri Ramakrishna s incomparable sàdhanà or uninterrupted practice of different spiritual disciplines for twelve years, his attainment of nirvikalpa or seedless samàdhi, and the offering of the fruits of his sàdhanà at the feet of his divine consort, Holy Mother Sarada Devi, whom he worshipped as Goddess Tripurasundari or Kàli at Dakshineswar. Thereafter he remained absolutely God-intoxicated and a handmaid of the Divine Mother. The most intense form of spiritual emotion, ecstatic love of God, is mahàbhàva. He lived in this state of mahàbhàva when he practised sàdhanà as per the instructions of the Vaishnava scriptures and sought complete union with Sri Krishna as the Beloved of the heart. At that time he assumed the attitude of the Gopis of Vrindavan. This state of mahàbhàva was also visible in him afterwards. When he spoke on this mahàbhàva later, he said: The manifestation in the same individual of the nineteen different kinds of emotion for God is called, in the books on bhakti, mahàbhàva. An ordinary man takes a whole lifetime to express even a single one of these. But in this body [meaning himself] there has been a complete manifestation of all nineteen. 1 This is also described in the Lilàprasanga by Swami Saradananda and in the Ramakrishna Punthi by Akshaya Sen. Sri Ramakrishna used to remain in three states of consciousness the inmost state (antardashà), the semi-conscious (antarbàhya dashà) and the conscious state (bàhya dashà). Sri Chaitanya Mahàprabhu too experienced these three states of consciousness. Sri Ramakrishna mentioned this to the devotees. Sri Ramakrishna, through his intense, diverse and stormy spiritual sàdhanà had realized the Supreme Truth that Brahman Bulletin of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture August

2 SWAMI GIRISHANANDA and the Divine Mother (Shakti) are one and the same, that God Impersonal and God Personal are one and the same just like a diamond and its lustre. One cannot think of a diamond without its glow. Thus realizing the Absolute, he remained in a God-intoxicated mood all through his earthly years. Having practised different religions apart from Hinduism, he had also realized that all faiths lead to the same God. Therefore he was for harmony of religions and this was the culmination of all his spiritual practices. After this realization of the Absolute in the state of nirvikalpa samàdhi one does not know if Sri Ramakrishna wished to cast off his mortal body or not. But he said later: I remained in that state from which ordinary men can never return; generally the body falls off, after three weeks, like a sere leaf. I was not conscious of day and night. Flies would enter my mouth and nostrils just as they do a dead body s, but I did not feel them. My hair became matted with dust. 2 Sri Ramakrishna s body was, however, preserved and nurtured by a kind monk who applied even physical violence to recall the fleeing soul to the prison-house of the body, and during the resultant fleeting moments of consciousness pushed through his mouth some morsels of food. The Divine Mother then commanded him to remain in the state of bhàvamukha for the good of mankind (Bhàvamukha is the borderline between the Absolute and the Relative). The goal of life Sri Ramakrishna came to this world to preach unto mankind the eternal truth of immortality of the soul, and that the goal of human life is God-realization. He always exhorted the devotees, the disciples and the holy men who used to visit him at Dakshineswar or elsewhere to meditate sincerely on God and practise discrimination between the Real and the unreal, between the Eternal and the evanescent, because without discrimination or viveka one cannot fully understand spiritual instructions. He had the immense power to see through the innermost thoughts of the human mind. Assessing the depth and extent of spiritual awakening in each individual, he would instruct them accordingly. All the same, he directed all, especially the devotees belonging to his inner circle who displayed the spirit of renunciation, to realize the Self or the âtman within. He said: In order to meditate on God, one should try at first to think of Him as free from upàdhis, limitations.... it is very difficult to achieve perfection in this form of meditation. But it is easy to meditate on an Incarnation God born as man. Yes, God in man. The body is a mere covering. It is like a lantern with a light burning inside, or like a glass case in which one sees precious things. 3 The Self is within, but we are not aware of It. This is due to avidyà, ignorance. We look for It outside. Knowing this Self or the âtman within we attain absolute Bliss. The musk is in the abdominal sac of the deer, the fragrance of which maddens the deer and makes it run helter-skelter in search of it. The same is true of our mind which is always restless. The restless mind is a state of avidyà, and this avidyà hides the knowledge of the âtman within. As a result, we remain far from the Bliss Absolute. We seek joys and pleasures of the worldly nature. But they are transitory, fleeting. It is only by knowing the supreme Truth (âtman or Brahman) that we can enjoy the Bliss Absolute. For this, we have to bring under control the restless mind which is ever drawn outward by our sense organs. Hence we need to direct the mind inward. This is achieved through sincere spiritual practice and meditation. When the mind has learnt to 6 Bulletin of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture August 2016

3 SRI RAMAKRISHNA : THE WORLD TEACHER rest on the Self, there is joy within. This is brahmànanda or Bliss of the Absolute. Therefore the Bhagavadgità says: Yam labdhvà càparam làbham manyate nàdhikam tatah / Yasmin sthito na duhkhena gurunàpi vicàlyate // 6.22 Having obtained which no other gain is considered greater, and being established in which one is not shaken even by great sorrow. We have already mentioned that Sri Ramakrishna always remained Godintoxicated and in turn passed through all the three states of consciousness. When he used to stay in the highest state of nirvikalpa samàdhi, he would lose all awareness of the external world. When he remained in semiconscious state, he led the chorus singing and even danced. In this semi-conscious state he would express simple desires of his to the Divine Mother so that he may not plunge back to the state of samàdhi. He would say sometimes, Mother. I wish to see Shivanath (a Brahmo devotee) today or, I would like to have a betel leaf, etc. Thus he conducted himself so that he could provide spiritual instructions to all who came to him and sought his refuge. Time and again he would ask the devotees to practise spiritual disciplines to acquire love of God and to realize Him. He would ask them to go into solitude to cultivate this love of God. For, it is by His grace that distress of the mind disappears. The path of devotion Sri Ramakrishna said that through pure love or bhakti, God is easily drawn to the devotee. Mere logic-chopping does not serve this purpose because the Infinite is one and therefore unfathomable. Who has been able to fathom the depths of the Ocean of Bliss? he would ask. To explain this he gave the examples of Nàrada, Shiva, Shukadeva and their states of consciousness: It is said that sages like Dattàtreya and Jadabharata did not return to the relative plane after having the vision of Brahman. According to some people, Shukadeva tasted only a drop of that Ocean of Brahman-Consciousness. He saw and heard the rumbling of the waves of that Ocean, but he did not dive into It. 4 Again, he said: Shiva has two states of mind. First, the state of samàdhi, when He is transfixed in the Great Yoga. He is then âtmàràma, satisfied in the Self. Second, the state when He descends from samàdhi and keeps a trace of ego. Then He dances about, chanting, Ràma, Ràma! 5 He further said: Generally the body does not remain alive after the attainment of samàdhi. The only exceptions are such sages as Nàrada, who keep their bodies alive in order to bring spiritual light to others. 6 One day he told Captain (a devotee): After attaining samàdhi, Nàrada, Shukadeva, and others came down a few steps, as it were, to the plane of normal consciousness and broke their silence out of compassion for the sufferings of others and to help them. 7 This is true of the divine incarnations, like Chaitanya. This is His infinite compassion. The Brahmo devotees were influenced by Western education and philosophy. They believed in being rational. Sri Ramakrishna instructed them: In meditation one must be absorbed in God. By merely floating on the surface of the water, can you reach the gems lying at the bottom of the sea? 8 As Sri Ramakrishna was an alert and a wise teacher who knew how and what spiritual ideals were to be emphasized, he said: Dive deep in the sweetness of God s Bliss. What need have we of His infinite creation and unlimited glory? Then he sang: Dive deep, O mind, dive deep in the Ocean of God s Beauty; Bulletin of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture August

4 SWAMI GIRISHANANDA If you descend to the uttermost depths, There you will find the gem of Love. 9 Renunciation of ego Sri Ramakrishna s renunciation was absolute. He had not the slightest trace of ego. He considered himself to be a child of the Divine Mother, a mere instrument of Her hands, and just did what She desired. He simply carried out Her biddings. He used to tell the devotees that it was the Divine Mother who was sporting through him. So Sri Ramakrishna s advent in this age of scepticism was to remove the veil of ignorance from the mind of the people and direct their lives Godward. A world teacher as he was, he sought to lead us from darkness to light, as has been said in the following shloka: Ajnàna-timiràndhasya jnànànjanashalàkayà cakshur-unmilitam yena tasmai sri gurave namah. That means, Salutations to the Guru who removes the darkness of ignorance from our inner eyes by applying the collyrium of the light of knowledge. Therefore in every age God incarnates Himself as the Guru to teach humanity. 10 Sri Ramakrishna explained who is a fit Guru or a teacher: After receiving the command from God, one can be a teacher and give lectures anywhere. He who receives authority from God also receives power from Him. Only then can he perform the difficult task of a teacher. 11 Again, How is it ever possible for men who have not realized God or received His command, and who are not strengthened with divine strength, to save others from the prison-house of the world? 12 And so after four long years of testing, teasing, and training of Narendranath Dutta, Sri Ramakrishna one day declared before his devotees that Naren shall teach, and thus gave the world Swami Vivekananda. Unique teacher Sri Ramakrishna was a unique teacher. To train the minds of the devotees, he would often illustrate his points with suitable stories and parables. He said that it is the pure in heart who is blessed with Godvision. God realization is the supreme goal of human life. Nothing in this world should deter the spiritual aspirant from attaining it. To impress on the devotees of the importance of going ahead in spiritual life, he narrated the story of a woodcutter: A woodcutter once entered a forest to gather wood. A brahmachàri said to him, Go forward. He obeyed the injunction and discovered some sandal-wood trees. After a few days he reflected, The Holy men asked me to go forward. He didn t tell me to stop here. So he went forward and found a silver-mine. After a few days he went still farther and discovered a gold-mine, and next, mines of diamonds and precious stones. With these he became immensely rich. 13 Sri Ramakrishna was ever eager to lead his devotees to the path of God-realization. To fill their minds with love for God, he instructed the ablest of them to cultivate the highest loving devotion or premà-bhakti the ecstatic love of God. One must call upon His name with a pure and a yearning heart and seek refuge at His feet. He felt infinite compassion for all who came and all who were yet to come. So one day at the Cossipore Garden-house in an ecstatic mood he blessed all saying May you all be illumined. Thus he proved himself to be a jagadguru or world teacher. Mahendranath Gupta, M, the author of Kathamrita, faithfully records in his book how Sri Ramakrishna in the dialect of rural Bengal would present to the devotees, 8 Bulletin of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture August 2016

5 SRI RAMAKRISHNA : THE WORLD TEACHER including women, the highest teachings and principles of Sanàtanadharma, the eternal religion. He did not cite any scriptural texts to prove his points, but through stories and parables he would focus on the highest truth. Love of God to be real, he said, must be something concrete and personal, and not mere abstraction. He explained that Impersonal God and Personal God are nondifferent like ice and water, as in those days, many English-educated youths had started questioning the validity of the idol-worship of Hinduism. He said, and demonstrated through his life s experiences that it was easy to meditate on the Divine with form, as a Personal God. By meditating on a Personal God, the devotee is able to concentrate his mind on the divine form quickly and thereby develop in his heart a faith and yearning for His vision. For that, however, a childlike faith was needed. He narrates the following story: A bràhmin used to worship his Family Deity daily with food offerings. One day he had to go away on business. As he was about to leave the house, he said to his young son: Give the offering to the Deity today. See that God is fed. The boy offered food in the shrine, but the image remained silent on the altar. It would neither talk nor eat. The boy waited a long time, but still the image did not move. But the boy firmly believed that God would come down from His throne, sit on the floor, and partake of the food. Again and again he prayed to the Deity, saying: O Lord, come down and eat the food. It is already very late. I cannot sit here any longer. But the image did not utter a word. The boy burst into tears and cried: O Lord, my father asked me to feed You. Why won t You come down? Why won t You eat from my hands? The boy wept for some time with a longing soul. At last the Deity, smiling, came down from the altar and sat before the meal and ate it. After feeding the Deity, the boy came out of the shrine room. His relatives said: The worship is over. Now bring away the offering. Yes, said the boy, the worship is over. But God has eaten everything. How is that? asked the relatives. The boy replied innocently. Why. God has eaten the food. They entered the shrine and were speechless with wonder to see that the Deity had really eaten every bit of the offering. 14 Sri Ramakrishna s manner of giving spiritual instructions was unique. As he understood human limitations very well he never imposed his views directly on others. His influence was subtle. Yet he made no compromise. He always kept before them the highest ideal of God-realization and emboldened them. He visited the Brahmo Samaj, attended the vesper service there and spoke to them to point out that it is impossible to understand and explain God s action and His motive. Moreover, the question, he said, didn t bother him. Why? He told the Brahmo devotees, because The aim of human life is to attain bhakti. As for other things, the Mother knows best. I have come to the garden to eat mangoes. What is the use of my calculating the number of trees, branches, and leaves? I only eat the mangoes; I don t need to know the number of trees and leaves. 15 Thus Sri Ramakrishna used to underline the truth that the Infinite cannot be limited. One must pray and meditate longingly to receive His grace (kripà) so that he may attain bhakti toward His Lotus Feet. Intense longing, he said, was the only means to attain God s grace. Dwelling on the subject of devotion, he would often refer to Prahlàda, Dhruva and Hanumàna, each of whom practised different types of devotion. But they had one thing in common all of them had intense longing for the vision of Bulletin of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture August

6 SWAMI GIRISHANANDA God. This intense longing is what matters in spiritual life. He explained the relationship between God and His devotee thus: Sometimes God acts as the magnet and the devotee as the needle. God attracts the devotee to Himself. Again, sometimes the devotee acts as the magnet and God as the needle. Such is the attraction of the devotee that God comes to him, unable to resist his love. Such is the bond of attraction between a devotee and his God. 16 You all know the story of Gopaler Ma, ie Mother of Gopal, another name of Lord Krishna. That old lady had a lifelong, onepointed devotion to the ideal of Bàl-Gopàla (baby Krishna). Her intense devotion had made the image real and she was blessed with many divine visions. Gopàla behaved exactly in the same way as a child would behave with its mother playing pranks, throwing a tantrum, asking to be fed, to be played with, to be carried on shoulder, etc. Even Ràmlàlà behaved similarly with Sri Ramakrishna during the latter s practice of bhakti sàdhanà. The image of Ràmlàlà was given to him by Jatàdhàri, a Vaishnava sadhu of great devotion. Ràmlàlà or child Ràma would jump, dance, run about, play pranks with him as a naughty child would do. Advice to the householders Sri Ramakrishna advised the householder devotees to cultivate devotion first, and then to perform all worldly duties. He said, If you break a jackfruit after rubbing your hands with oil, then its sticky milk will not smear your hands. 17 He has given us a fresh understanding of how karma or action is to be viewed and how our worldly duties have to be performed with detachment. This world, he said, is the manifestation of the Divine Being. We, therefore, are to perform our duties in this world with the faith that we are carrying out His work. In this way we can spiritualize our work, become free from the bondage or fruits of our actions. Otherwise karma will bind us. See, so much of compassion he had for the souls in bondage! By spiritualizing our work, as a scientist or a doctor or a housewife, we can remain unattached to them and consequently not suffer from the karmic effect. That is why he preached the ideal of Shiva jnàne jiva sevà Service to man as service to God which is the blazing ideal of the Ramakrishna Order. REFERENCES 1 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, translated by Swami Nikhilananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, p Ibid., p Ibid., p Ibid., p Ibid., p Ibid., p Ibid., p Ibid., p Ibid., pp Ibid., p Ibid., p Ibid., p Ibid., p Ibid., p Ibid., p Ibid., p Ibid., p * This article is the translated version of a lecture Swami Girishananda delivered in Bengali at the Institute on 4 February, Translated by Maushumi Bose. 10 Bulletin of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture August 2016