In my intensive research of Eastern religion and culture there were, in my view, approximately ten spiritual Masters who were the greatest of them all. Sri Ramakrishna was most definitely one of these ten. He was born in 1836 in Kamarpukur, India. As a young boy he grew indifferent to His studies and became deeply absorbed in the stories of Rama and Krishna. The older he grew, the passion he had to realize God became stronger and stronger. In the Hindu religion there is one God Brahman, and thousands of sub-Gods and/or incarnations of God.
For a period of His young adulthood, Ramakrishna longed for the sight of Kali. This changed, however, there was an intensive twelve year period where He began searching for the realization of what Hindu’s refer to as "The Divine Mother aspect of God."
Paramahansa Yogananda once said that if a person wanted to realize God, he must want God like a drowning man wants air. This perfectly describes Ramakrishna. A vision of the Divine Mother was His all consuming desire. On one particular day He could not bear the separation He felt from the Divine Mother any longer. He was in the temple of the Divine Mother when He spotted a sword and was about to kill himself, when the "Divine Mother" revealed Herself to Him and He fell unconscious on the floor. Ramakrishna felt a steady flow of divine bliss when He awoke. His main concern after this experience was to stabilize it so He could live in this state all the time. He doubled his prayer and meditation practices.
Ramakrishna then focused His attention on the incarnation of Rama. (see chapter on the Life and Teachings of Sri Rama). He put Himself in the place of Hanuman, the Monkey God, who was the selfless devoted servant of Rama. He gave Himself completely to this practice, even living on nuts and fruits and acting like a monkey at times. As the result of this practice He had a vision of Sita, the beloved wife and devotee of Rama.
Ramakrishna’s family worried about Ramakrishna because of His perceived odd behavior at times. They decided that he should get married. Ramakrishna just flowed with divine providence and in an ecstatic state of meditation prophesied where they should go to find his bride. He was married in May of 1859, and from that day onward He worshipped His wife as the very embodiment of the Divine Mother. Ramakrishna’s understanding of marriage was quite different than the average worldly person as you can surmise. One day near one of the temples on the banks of the Ganges Ramakrishna bumped into a woman who appeared to be a sanyasini (female spiritual renunciate and yogini). She exclaimed, "My son, you are here! Knowing that you were somewhere on the banks of the Ganges, I have been searching for you so long, and now I have found you." Her name was Yogeswari.
Ramakrishna accepted her as His spiritual guide. Ramakrishna hence, passed through the tantric spiritual practices. To Ramakrishna, all women were incarnations of the Divine Mother, whom He worshipped to the end of His life.
One of the very interesting things about Ramakrishna was that He was never satisfied with just one system of spiritual practice. During this twelve year period, He also went through phases of worshipping Krishna, Radha (Krishna’s wife), and had divine visions and full realizations of both states of consciousness.
One day in the garden of one of the temples He met an itinerant monk whose name was Totapuri. He asked Ramakrishna if He would like to learn Vedanta. Ramakrishna went into the temple and asked the Divine Mother in meditation. The Divine Mother said to Him, "Yes, my son, go and learn of Him. It is for this purpose that He has come here." On the first day that Ramakrishna practiced advaita spiritual practices He went into Nirvikalpa Samadhi (enlightenment experience) and remained in that state dead to the world for three days. Totapuri, His teacher, was amazed, for it had taken Him forty years of strenuous practice to achieve this state of consciousness. Totapuri remained with Ramakrishna for eleven months, and Ramakrishna became a jnani (knowledge yogi) as well as His previous training of being a Bhakta (devotional yogi).
When Totapuri left Ramakrishna had another experience of Samadhi that lasted for six full months. After six months the Divine Mother said to Him, "Remain on the threshold of relative consciousness for the sake of humanity."
Because of this command, Ramakrishna came out of this enlightened state where he was merged with the Eternal Self. Ramakrishna then went through a period studying and realizing God through the Sufi and Islamic faith. After three days He realized God in this form and had a vision of the Prophet Mohammed.
He even then delved into the Bible and Christianity and had a vision of Jesus Christ. Ramakrishna firmly believed that all forms of religion were valid pathways to God. In 1879 Ramakrishna took on His first disciples and for the next seven years pearls of great wisdom flowed from His mouth until His death in 1886. Ramakrishna never read books. All his Knowledge came from union with the Eternal Self.
He was completely uneducated in a left brain sense, however, divine knowledge poured through Him. He was the embodiment of the mystic path of life. It was for this reason, I believe, that Ramakrishna attracted His premiere disciple, Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda’s training was exactly the opposite of Ramakrishna. He totally believed in God, however He was highly left brain educated and college educated.
"He is born in vain who, having attained the human birth, so difficult to get, does not attempt to realize God in this very life."
"Repeat God’s name and sing His glories, and keep holy company; and now and then visit God’s devotees and holy men. The mind cannot dwell on God if it is immersed day and night in worldliness, in worldly duties and responsibilities. It is most necessary to go into solitude now and then and think of God."
"You should always discriminate between the real and the unreal. God alone is real, the Eternal substance: All else is unreal, that is, impermanent. By discriminating thus, one should shake off impermanent objects from the mind.,"
"The point is to love God even as the mother loves her child, the chaste wife her husband, and the worldly man his wealth. Add together these three forces of love, these three powers of attraction, and give it all to God. Then you will certainly see Him."
"We cannot have the vision of God as long as one has these three - shame, hatred, and fear."
"A man must work. Only then can He see God. One cannot develop love of God or obtain His vision without work. Work means meditation, prayer, affirmation and the like. The chanting of God’s name and glories is work too. You may also include charity, sacrifice, and so on."
"God cannot be realized if there is the slightest attachment to the things of the world. A thread cannot pass through the eye of a needle if the tiniest fiber sticks out."
"Do not let worldly thoughts and anxieties disturb your mind. Do everything in the proper time, and let your mind be always fixed on God."
"You should remember that the heart of the devotee is the abode of God. He dwells, no doubt, in all beings, but He especially manifests Himself in the heart of the devotee. The heart of the devotee is the drawing room of God."
"Do all your duties, but keep your mind on God. Live with all - with wife and children, father and mother and serve them. Treat them as if they were very dear to you, but know in your heart of hearts they do not belong to you."
"He who has surrendered his mind, heart, and soul to God is a sadru (spiritual seeker). He who has given up lust and gold is a sadru. He looks upon women as his mother and accordingly worships them. A sadhu always thinks of God and serves all, knowing that God is in everything."
RSS 2.0