Hindu Saint
Sri Ramakrishna
Throughout her history India
has produced many great saints and illumined teachers. One of the greatest
of these was Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886). He lived a life steeped in
God-consciousness and it is said that he is perhaps the best-known
example in history of a man who demonstrated, by personal example, the
essential harmony of all faiths.
Sri Ramakrishna practised all the major branches of Hinduism and, in
1866, followed the path of Islam and had a vision of Muhammad. Later,
as he studied Christianity, he also saw Jesus. Thus, by following these
different paths, he reached the same spiritual goal and realized that
all religions can transcend oneself to God.
Born of pious parents in the little village of Kamarpukur in a remote
partof West Bengal on the 18th February 1836, he spent his early life
there.
When he was a young man, he joined his brother, Ramkumar, who had been
appointed to be a priest at the newly constructed temple of Kali at
Dakshineswar near Calcutta, which vocation was not considered as a very
honourable one.
Sri Ramakrishna was put in charge of decorating the image of Kali with
flowers, sandal paste, jewelry and clothes. As he worshipped the
Divine Mother, he became obsessed with the thought that if the Divine
Mother was real, he should be able to see her living form. He
developed a deep yearning for the vision of God; over time, his yearning
became so intense that one day he grabbed the ceremonial sword from
the wall of the shrine and was ready to kill himself if he could not
have the Mother's vision. Finally, upon reaching that supreme
intensity, he was overwhelmed by an ineffable bliss and had the direct
vision of the Divine Mother Kali.
In his yearning for God-realization he practiced austere disciplines.
His disciplines were so intense that his family feared for his sanity
and suggested marriage as an antidote. To their surprise he agreed,
even indicating that the appropriate bride was to be found in a neighboring
village. Saradamani Mukerji, whom we now call Sri Sarada Devi,
came to Dakshineswar at the age of 16, remaining as his helpmate and
disciple until his death. Through Sri Sarada Devi, he has exhibited
to the world the possibility of raising conjugal life to the highest
spiritual level and the nature of universal motherhood.
He began to attract followers, who would visit him in his room at Dakshineswar.
Among those who were attracted were members of the Brahmo Samaj.
One of these was a young boy named Narendra Nath Datta, who was to become
Swami Vivekananda.
In 1885 Sri Ramakrishna was diagnosed as having cancer of the throat
and was eventually moved to the garden house at Cossipore for treatment.
In order to nurse him during his illness, a small band of his closest
disciples coalesced around him. Later this same band of disciples
with Narendranath (Swami Vivekananda) the leader, went forth to dessimate
his teachings and spread them far and wide for the benefit of humanity.
They were to become the first monks of the Ramakrishna Order. The Ramakrishna
Math and the Ramakrishna Mission are the direct offshoots of this.
Sri Ramakrishna still influences the spiritual thought currents
of our time. His small room in the Dakshineswar temple garden on the
outskirts of the city of Calcutta became a veritable parliament of religions.
Everyone who came to him felt uplifted by his profound God-consciousness,
boundless love, and universal outlook. Throughout his life Sri Ramakrishna
proved that the revelation of God takes place at all times and that
God-realization is not the monopoly of any particular age, religion,
or people. He did not found any cult, nor did he show a new path
to salvation.
His message was his God-consciousness. At a time when the very
foundation of religion, faith in God, was crumbling under the relentless
blows of materialism and skepticism, Sri Ramakrishna demonstrated beyond
doubt the reality of God and the validity of the time-honored teachings
of all the prophets and saviors of the past, and thus restored the falling
edifice of religion on a secure foundation.
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