MyLifeYoga

In the previous week’s post we saw that Sri Ramakrishna had achieved his life’s goal and achieved the highest form of consciousness. However he had a vision of a new mission for his life and this required that he return to the plane of consciousness once again.

Sri Ramakrishna’s new mission required that he carry out spiritual exploration. Sri Ramakrishna did this in a manner never attempted before by exploring other faiths. He got initiated into Islam and became a practicing Muslim. He completely banished all Hindu ideas and found no inclination to even visit his favorite Kali temple. After three days he had a vision that convinced him that Islam was an authentic way of attaining Brahman. Seven years later he did a similar experiment with Christianity that once again culminated in a vision that proved to him the authenticity of the Christian path. Sri Ramakrishna similarly spoke highly of the Buddhist, Sikh, and the Jain faith. During this period Sri Ramakrishna also went on a pilgrimage to many holy sites and met some of the most extraordinary spiritual masters belonging to different Hindu sects. After this period of exploration he came to the conclusion that the different Hindu Sects and the different faiths were all authentic but different paths to the same God. He used to say to his disciples, “I have practiced three religions- Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. And I have also followed the paths of different Hindu sects. I have found that it is the same God towards whom all are directing their steps, though along different path. It is as if a tank of water has many different sides. From one side the Hindus draw water and call it “jal”. From another side the Mohammedans draw water and call it “pani”, and from yet another side the Christians call it “water”. Can we imagine that water is not “jal”, but only “pani” or “water”? How absurd! The substance is One under different names, and everyone is seeking the same Substance.”

It is unheard for a spiritual stalwart of Sri Ramakrishna’s caliber, belonging to one faith, to have embraced another faith so completely. Not only Sri Ramakrishna do it once but he did it twice. It is indeed unprecedented in the annals of religious history that such a daring experiment was ever carried out. Sri Ramakrishna, having done this experiment, was able to speak not just from an intellectual level but also from a very direct experiential level. His message of unity is hence most extraordinary and authentic. It laid down the groundwork not only of a modern secular India, but also puts forth an extraordinary vision of co-existence of faiths that is yet unfolding before our eyes. It is because of Sri Ramakrishna’s vision that orthodox Hindus have subsequently felt liberty to take the message of Yoga and universalize it so that it can be adopted by all faiths. If your life has been touched by Yoga then you are the direct beneficiary of Sri Ramakrishna’s extraordinary message. If our children and grandchildren will not be involved in religious wars and choose instead to coexist with other faiths it will be because the echo of Sri Ramakrishna’s voice will be still reverberating in their lives. Continue reading →

Sri Ramakrishna was a spiritual giant whose life and message continue to have an impact on us even today. To understand this we have to realize that his life had three distinct phases. In the first phase Sri Ramakrishna achieves a form of God realization but had no control over his meditation. He was in danger of losing complete control when he was instructed via a vision to stop and wait for teachers to appear who would guide him further.

Luckily for Sri Ramakrishna the railway line had not yet been built and Dakshineswar, with its location on the banks of the river Ganges, was a stop on the way for monks traveling up and down the Ganges. One day a beautiful middle-aged female monk named Yogeshwari happened to stop over. When she saw Ramakrishna she exclaimed, “My son, you are here! I have been searching for you so long, and now I have found you!”

Yogeshwari established herself a few miles from Dakshineswar and would come down daily to teach Sri Ramakrishna. Thus began the formal spiritual education of Sri Ramakrishna in the proper way of meditation. To Yogeshwari’s surprise Sri Ramakrishna progressed quickly and in a matter of days attained higher and higher spiritual states that are normally considerably difficulty to master. She soon became convinced that Sri Ramakrishna was no ordinary soul and convinced Mr. Mathur to convene a meeting of distinguished scholars to examine Sri Ramakrishna. Consequently two imminent scholars were summoned and both of them concurred that Sri Ramakrishna was no ordinary soul and the states he had achieved were indeed rare to be seen in mere mortals. This was the first time the possibility that Sri Ramakrishna was a Divine Incarnation was broached.

In spite of the very high opinion of religious scholars, Sri Ramakrishna’s spiritual education was not yet complete. He still had to achieve the highest state of consciousness where he could experience undivided and absolute unity. Many days after Yogeshwari had departed a very advanced monk called Totapuri happened to visit Dakshineswar. When he saw Sri Ramakrishna he was immediately impressed and offered to make him a disciple. Sri Ramakrishna was subsequently initiated and formally became a monk. Continue reading →