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Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (February 18, 1836 - August
16, 1886), born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay[2] is a famous
mystic of 19th-century India.[3] His religious school of thought
led to the formation of the Ramakrishna Mission by his chief
disciple Swami Vivekananda[4][5][6]—both were influential
figures in the Bengali Renaissance[7] and the Hindu renaissance
during 19th and 20th century.[8][9] He was considered an avatar
or incarnation of God by many of his disciples, and is
considered as such by many of his devotees today.
Ramakrishna was born in a poor Brahmin Vaishnava family in rural
Bengal. He became a priest of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple,
dedicated to goddess Kali, which had the influence of the main
strands of Bengali bhakti tradition. His first spiritual
teacher was an ascetic woman skilled in Tantra and Vaishnava
bhakti. Later an Advaita Vedantin ascetic taught him non-dual
meditation, and according to Ramakrishna, he experienced
Nirvikalpa Samadhi under his guidance. Ramakrishna also
experimented with other religions, notably Islam and
Christianity, and said that they all lead to the same God.[2]
Though conventionally uneducated, he attracted attention of the
Bengali intelligentsia and middle class.
The Ramakrishna movement was brought to the West by Swami
Vivekananda. The Ramakrishna movement has been termed as one of
the revitalization movements of India.
Biography
Birth and childhood
The small house at Kamarpukur where Ramakrishna lived (centre).
The family shrine is on the left, birthplace temple on the right
Ramakrishna was born in 1836, in the village of Kamarpukur, in
the Hooghly district of West Bengal, into a very poor but pious,
orthodox brahmin family. Located far from the railroad,
Kamarpukur was untouched by the glamour of the city and
contained rice-fields, tall palms, royal banyans, a few lakes,
and two cremation grounds.[13] His parents were Khudiram
Chattop?dhy?ya, and Chandramani Dev?. According to traditional
accounts, Ramakrishna's parents experienced supernatural
incidents, visions before his birth. His father Khudiram had a
dream in Gaya in which Lord Gadadhara (a form of god Vishnu),
said that he would be born as his son. Chandramani Devi is said
to have had a vision of light entering her womb from Shiva's
temple.
Ramakrishna was a popular figure in the village, with a natural
gift for fine arts. Though he attended a village school with
some regularity for 12 years,[15] he later rejected the
traditional schooling saying that he was not interested in
"bread-winning education". Kamarpukur being a
transit-point in well-established pilgrimage routes to Puri,
brought him with contact to the renunciates and holy men.[18] He
became well-versed in the Puranas, the Ramayana, the
Mahabharata, and the Bhagavata Purana, hearing them from
wandering monks and the Kathaks—a class of men in ancient India
who preached and sang the Purāṇas.[17][19] He could read and
write in Bengali.[17]
Ramakrishna describes about his first spiritual ecstasy at the
age of six, while walking along the paddy fields, a flock of
white cranes flying against a backdrop of dark thunder-clouds
caught his vision. He reportedly became so absorbed by this
scenery that he lost outward consciousness and experienced
indescribable joy in that state.[20][21] Ramakrishna reportedly
had experiences of similar nature a few other times in his
childhood—while worshipping the goddess Vishalakshi, and
portraying god Shiva in a drama during Shivaratri festival. From
his tenth or eleventh year on, the trances became
common.[21][22]
Ramakrishna's father died in 1843, after which the
responsibilities fell on his elder brother Ramkumar. This loss
drew him closer to his mother, and he spent his time in
household activities, daily worship of the household deities and
became more involved in contemplative activities such as reading
the sacred epics.[23] When Ramakrishna was into his teens, the
family's financial position worsened. Ramkumar started a
Sanskrit school in Calcutta and also served as a priest.
Ramakrishna moved to Calcutta in 1852 with Ramkumar to assist in
the priestly work.[24][25]
Priest at Dakshineswar Kali Temple
Dakshineswar Kāli Temple, where Ramakrishna spent a major
portion of his adult life.
Bhavatārini Kali, the deity that Ramakrishna worshipped.
In 1855 Ramkumar was appointed as the priest of Dakshineswar
Kali Temple, built by Rani Rashmoni—a rich woman of Calcutta who
belonged to the kaivarta community.[26] Ramakrishna, along with
his nephew Hriday, became assistants to Ramkumar, with
Ramakrishna given the task of decorating the deity. When
Ramkumar died in 1856, Ramakrishna took his place as the priest
of the Kali temple.[27] The name Ramakrishna is said to have
been given him by Mathur Babu, the son-in-law of Rani Rashmoni.[28]
After Ramkumar's death Ramakrishna became more contemplative. He
began to look upon the image of the goddess Kali as his mother
and the mother of the universe. He became seized by a desire to
have a darshana (vision) of Kali—a direct realization of her
reality—and believed the stone image to be living and breathing
and taking food out of his hand. At times he would weep bitterly
and cry out loudly while worshipping, and would not be
comforted, because he could not see his mother Kali as perfectly
as he wished. People became divided in their opinions—some held
Ramakrishna to be mad, and some took him to be a great lover of
God. Ramakrishna was said to become deeply offended when others
would not show the same level of devotion for the goddess Kali
as he did. He would become angry when others would tell him that
he was not really experiencing the presents of Kali. Yet Through
his faith, and his spiritual devotion, others would soon begin
to believe in not only what Ramakrishna was seeing, but in his
teachings as well.[29] [30] One day, brought to the point of
suicide by this longing, he had the experience of goddess Kali
as the universal Mother,[31] which he described as "... houses,
doors, temples and everything else vanished altogether; as if
there was nothing anywhere! And what I saw was an infinite
shoreless sea of light; a sea that was consciousness. However,
far and in whatever direction I looked, I saw shining waves, one
after another, coming towards me."[32]
Marriage
Rumors spread to Kamarpukur that Ramakrishna had become unstable
as a result of his spiritual exercises at Dakshineswar.
Ramakrishna's mother and his elder brother Rameswar decided to
get Ramakrishna married, thinking that marriage would be a good
steadying influence upon him—by forcing him to accept
responsibility and to keep his attention on normal affairs
rather than being obsessed with his spiritual practices and
visions.[33] Far from objecting to the marriage, Ramakrishna
mentioned that they could find the bride at the house of
Ramchandra Mukherjee in Jayrambati, three miles to the
north-west of Kamarpukur. The five-year-old bride, Saradamani
Mukhopadhyaya was found and the marriage was duly solemnised in
1859.[34] Ramakrishna was 23 at this point, but the age
difference was typical for 19th century rural Bengal.[35] They
later spent three months together in Kamarpukur. Sarada Devi was
fourteen while Ramakrishna was thirty-two. Ramakrishna became a
very influential figure in Sarada’s life, and she became a
strong follower of his teachings. Their marriage is now seen in
India, to be one of the most spiritual and perfect unions
between a man and a woman. .[36] After the marriage, Sarada
stayed at Jayrambati and joined Ramakrishna in Dakshineswar at
the age of 18.[37]
Religious practices and teachers
After his marriage Ramakrishna returned to Calcutta and resumed
the charges of the temple again, but instead of toning down, his
spiritual fervour and devotion only increased. To cultivate
humility and eliminate the distinction between his own high
Brahmin caste and pariahs belonging of low caste he would clean
their quarters with his own hands and long hair.[38][39]
He would take gold and silver coins, and mixing them with
rubbish, repeat "money is rubbish, money is rubbish". He later
said that "I lost all perception of difference between the two
in my mind, and threw them both into the Ganges. No wonder
people took me for mad."[39] According to Swami Vivekananda, his
hatred for money became so instinctive that his body would
shrink back convulsively if were touched with a coin, even when
asleep.[40]
Many of his religious views were biased on traditional Hindu
thought and practice. Ramakrishna’s personal and religious views
focused on living a traditional life, with Hindu gods at the
center. It was very much a philosophy of godly worship, and
dependence. He believed that everything in life, cast, wealth,
family, and personal achievement was already determined by the
gods. Though in regards to other religions, Ramakrishna did not
hold traditional bias views. He believed that every religion was
welcome, and that worshiping a god in any way was better than
not worshiping one at all. He became very known for his views on
religious tolerance, and was seen as a saintly figure to many
because of them. His views of tolerance were also passed on
through the Ramakrishna mission and his followers.[41]
Bhairavi Brahmani and Tantra
In 1861, Bhairavi Brahmani, an orange robed, middle-aged female
ascetic appeared at Dakshineshwar. She carried with her the
Raghuvir Shila, a stone icon representing Ram and all Vaishnava
deities.[42] She was throughly conversant with the texts of
Gaudiya Vaishnavism and practiced Tantra.[42] According to the
Bhairavi, Ramakrishna was experiencing phenomena that accompany
mahabhava—the supreme attitude of loving devotion towards the
divine[43] and quoting from the bhakti shastras, she said that
other religious figures like Radha and Chaitanya had similar
experiences.[44]
The Bhairavi initiated Ramakrishna into Tantra. Tantrism focuses
on the worhip of shakti and the object of Tantric training is to
transcend the barriers between the holy and unholy as a means of
achieving liberation and to see all aspects of the natural world
as manifestations of the divine shakti.[33][45] Under her
guidance, he went through a full course of sixty four major
tantric sadhanas which were completed in 1863.[43] He began with
mantra rituals such as japa and purascarana and many other
rituals designed to purify the mind and establish self-control.
He later proceeded towards tantric sadhanas, which generally
include a set of heterodox practices called vamachara (left-hand
path), which utilize as a means of liberation, activities like
eating of parched grain, fish and meat along with drinking of
wine and sexual intercourse.[43] According to Ramakrishna and
his biographers, Ramakrishna did not directly participate in the
last two of those activities, all that he needed was a
suggestion of them to produce the desired result.[43]
Ramakrishna acknowledged the left-hand tantric path, though it
had "undesirable features", as one of the "valid roads to
God-realization", he consistently cautioned his devotees and
disciples against associating with it.[46][47]
Ramakrishna took the attitude of a son towards the Bhairavi.[48]
The Bhairavi on the other hand looked upon Ramakrishna as an
avatara, or incarnation of the divine, and was the first person
to openly declare that Ramakrishna was an avatara.[48] The
Bhairavi also taught Ramakrishna the kumari-puja, a form of
ritual in which the Virgin Goddess is worshiped symbolically in
the form of a young girl.[49] Under the tutelage of the Bhairavi,
Ramakrishna also became an adept at Kundalini Yoga.[43] The
Bhairavi, with the yogic techniques and the tantra played an
important part in the initial spiritual development of
Ramakrishna.[2][50][51]
Vaishnava Bhakti
The Vaishnava Bhakti traditions speak of five different
affective essences,[52] referred to as bhāvas—different
attitudes that a devotee can take up to express his love for the
God. They are: śānta, the serene attitude; dāsya, the attitude
of a servant; sakhya, the attitude of a friend; vātsalya, the
attitude of a mother toward her child; and madhura, the attitude
of a woman towards her lover.[53][54]
At some point in the period between his vision of Kali and his
marriage, Ramakrishna practiced dāsya bhāva. He started
worshiping Rama in the attitude of Hanuman, the monkey-god, who
is considered to be the ideal devotee and servant of Rama.
According to Ramakrishna, towards the end of this sadhana, he
had a vision of Sita, the consort of Rama, merging into his
body.[53][55]
In 1864, Ramakrishna practiced vātsalya bhāva under a Vaishnava
guru Jatadhari.[56] During this period, he worshipped a metal
image of Ramlālā (Rama as a child) in the attitude of a mother.
According to Ramakrishna, he could feel the presence of child
Rama as a living God in the metal image.[57][58]
Ramakrishna later engaged in the practice of madhura bhāva— the
attitude of Gopis and Radha towards Krishna.[53] During the
practise of this bhava, Ramakrishna dressed himself in women's
attire for several days and regarded himself as one of the Gopis
of Vrindavan. According to the Ramakrishna, madhura bhava is
practised to root out the idea of sex, which is seen as an
impediment in spiritual life.[59] According to Ramakrishna,
towards the end of this sadhana, he attained savikalpa samadhi—vision
and union with Krishna.[60]
Ramakrishna visited Nadia, the home of Chaitanya and Nityananda,
the 15th-century founders of Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava bhakti.
According to Ramakrishna, he had an intense vision of two young
boys merging into his body.[60] Earlier, after his vision of
Kali, he is said to have cultivated the Santa bhava—the passive
"peaceful" attitude — towards Kali.[53]
Totapuri and Vedanta
The Panchavati and the hut where Ramakrishna performed his
advaitic sadhana. The mud hut has been replaced by a brick one.
In 1865, Ramakrishna was initiated into sanyassa by Tota Puri,
an itinerant monk who trained Ramakrishna in Advaita Vedanta ,
the Hindu philosophy which emphasizes non-dualism.[61][62]
Totapuri first guided Ramakrishna through the rites of sannyasa—renunciation
of all ties to the world. Then he instructed him in the teaching
of advaita—that "Brahman alone is real, and the world is
illusory; I have no separate existence; I am that Brahman
alone."[63] Under the guidance of Totapuri, Ramakrishna
reportedly experienced Nirvikalpa Samadhi which is considered to
be the highest state in spiritual realisation.[64]
Totapuri stayed with Ramakrishna for nearly eleven months and
instructed him further in the teachings of advaita. After the
departure of Totapuri, Ramakrishna reportedly remained for six
months in a state of absolute contemplation.[65] Ramakrishna
said that this period of nirvikalpa samadhi came to an end when
he received a command from the Mother Kali to "remain in
Bhavamukha; for the enlightenment of the people". Bhavamukha
being a state of existence intermediate between samādhi and
normal consciousness.[66]
Islam and Christianity
In 1866, Govinda Roy, a Hindu guru who practiced Sufism,
initiated Ramakrishna into Islam. Ramakrishna said that he
"devoutly repeated the name of Allah, wore a cloth like the Arab
Moslems, said their prayer five times daily, and felt
disinclined even to see images of the Hindu gods and goddesses,
much less worship them—for the Hindu way of thinking had
disappeared altogether from my mind."[67] According to
Ramakrishna, after three days of practice he had a vision of a
"radiant personage with grave countenance and white beard
resembling the Prophet and merging with his body".[68]
At the end of 1873 he started the practice of Christianity, when
his devotee Shambu Charan Mallik read the Bible to him.
Ramakrishna said that for several days he was filled with
Christian thoughts and no longer thought of going to the Kali
temple. According to Ramakrishna, one day when he saw the
picture of Madonna and Child Jesus, he felt that the figures
became alive and had a vision in which Jesus merged with his
body. In his own room amongst other divine pictures was one of
Christ, and he burnt incense before it morning and evening.
There was also a picture showing Jesus Christ saving St.Peter
from drowning in the water.[60][69]
Arrival of followers
Ramakrishna in samadhi at the house of Keshab Chandra Sen. He is
seen supported by his nephew Hriday and surrounded by brahmo
devotees.
In 1875, Ramakrishna met the influential Brahmo Samaj leader
Keshab Chandra Sen.[70][71] Keshab had accepted Christianity,
and had separated from the Adi Brahmo Samaj. Formerly, Keshab
had rejected idolatry, but under the influence of Ramakrishna he
accepted Hindu polytheism and established the "New Dispensation"
(Nava Vidhan) religious movement, based on Ramakrishna's
principles—"Worship of God as Mother", "All religions as true"
and "Assimilation of Hindu polytheism into Brahmoism".[72]
Keshab also publicized Ramakrishna's teachings in the journals
of New Dispensation over a period of several years,[73] which
was instrumental in bringing Ramakrishna to the attention of a
wider audience, especially the Bhadralok (English-educated
classes of Bengal) and the Europeans residing in India.[74][75]
Following Keshab, other Brahmos such as Vijaykrishna Goswami
started to admire Ramakrishna, propagate his ideals and reorient
their socio-religious outlook. Many prominent people of
Calcutta—Pratap Chandra Mazumdar, Shivanath Shastri and
Trailokyanath Sanyal—began visiting him during this time
(1871-1885). Mozoomdar wrote the first English biography of
Ramakrishna, entitled The Hindu Saint in the Theistic Quarterly
Review (1879), which played a vital role in introducing
Ramakrishna to Westerners like the German indologist Max
Muller.[73] Newspapers reported that Ramakrishna was spreading
"Love" and "Devotion" among the educated classes of Calcutta and
that he had succeeded in reforming the character of some youths
whose morals had been corrupt.[73]
Ramakrishna also had interactions with Debendranath Tagore, the
father of Rabindranath Tagore, and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, a
renowned social worker. He had also met Swami Dayananda.[70]
Ramakrishna is considered as one of the main contributors to the
Bengali Renaissance.[7][8] However, some Brahmos like Upadhyay
Brahma?bandhab disapproved of his avatarahood, ascetic
renunciation and considered Ramakrishna's Samadhi as a nervous
malady.[70][76]
Among the Europeans who were influenced by Ramakrishna was
Principal Dr. W.W. Hastie of the Scottish Church College,
Calcutta.[77] In the course of explaining the word trance in the
poem The Excursion by William Wordsworth, Hastie told his
students that if they wanted to know its "real meaning", they
should go to "Ramakrishna of Dakshineswar." This prompted some
of his students, including Narendranath Dutta (later Swami
Vivekananda), to visit Ramakrishna.[73]
Devotees and disciples
Main articles: Disciples of Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda
Some Monastic Disciples (L to R): Trigunatitananda, Shivananda,
Vivekananda, Turiyananda, Brahmananda. Below Saradananda.
Mahendranath Gupta, a householder devotee and the author of
Sri-Sri-Ramakrisna-kathamrta.
Most of Ramakrishna's prominent disciples came between
1879-1885, and were influenced by his style of preaching and
instructing.[78]
His chief disciples consisted of:
* Grihastas or The householders—Mahendranath Gupta, Girish
Chandra Ghosh, Akshay Kumar Sen and others.
* Monastic disciples who renounced their family and became the
earliest monks of the Ramakrishna order—Narendranath Dutta
(Swami Vivekananda), Rakhal Chandra Ghosh (Swami Brahmananda),
Kaliprasad Chandra (Swami Abhedananda), Taraknath Ghoshal (Swami
Shivananda), Sashibhushan Chakravarty (Swami Ramakrishnananda),
Saratchandra Chakravarty (Swami Saradananda) and others.
* A small group of women disciples including Gauri Ma and Yogin
Ma. A few of them were initiated into sanyasa through mantra
deeksha. Among the women, Ramakrishna emphasized service to
other women rather than tapasya (practice of austerities).[79]
Gauri-ma founded the Saradesvari Ashrama at Barrackpur, which
was dedicated to the education and uplift of women.[80]
As his name spread, an ever shifting crowd of all classes and
castes visited Ramakrishna—"Maharajas and beggars, journalists
and pandits, artists and devotees, Brahmos, Christians, and
Mohammedans, men of faith, men of action and business, old men,
women and children".[81][82] According to his biographers,
Ramakrishna was very talkative and would out-talk the best-known
orators of his time. For hours he would reminisce about his own
eventful spiritual life, tell tales, explain abstruse Vedantic
doctrines with extremely mundane illustrations, raise questions
and answer them himself, crack jokes, sing songs, and mimic the
ways of all types of worldly people—visitors were kept
enthralled.[83][84] In preparation for monastic life,
Ramakrishna ordered his monastic disciples to beg their food
from door to door without distinction of caste. He gave them the
saffron robe, the sign of the Sanyasin, and initiated them with
Mantra Deeksha.[84]
Sarada Devi (1853 – 1920)
At the age of eighteen Sarada Devi joined Ramakrishna at
Dakshineswar.[85] By the time his bride joined him, Ramakrishna
had already embraced the monastic life of a sannyasin; as a
result, the marriage was never consummated.[33][85] As a priest
Ramakrishna performed the ritual ceremony—the Shodashi Puja
where Sarada Devi was made to sit in the seat of goddess Kali,
and worshiped as the Divine mother.[86] Ramakrishna regarded
Sarada as the Divine Mother in person, addressing her as the
Holy Mother and it was by this name that she was known to
Ramakrishna's disciples. Sarada Devi outlived Ramakrishna by 34
years and played an important role in the nascent religious
movement.[78][85]
Last days
The Disciples and Devotees at Ramakrishna's funeral
In the beginning of 1885 Ramakrishna suffered from clergyman's
throat, which gradually developed into throat cancer. He was
moved to Shyampukur near Calcutta, where some of the best
physicians of the time, including Dr. Mahendralal Sarkar, were
engaged. When his condition aggravated he was relocated to a
large garden house at Cossipore on December 11, 1885.
During his last days, he was looked after by his monastic
disciples and Sarada Devi. Ramakrishna was advised by the
doctors to keep the strictest silence, but ignoring their
advice, he incessantly conversed with visitors. According to
traditional accounts, before his death, Ramakrishna transferred
his spiritual powers to Vivekananda and reassured
Vivekananda of his avataric status. Ramakrishna asked
Vivekananda to look after the welfare of the disciples, saying,
"keep my boys together" and asked him to "teach them".
Ramakrishna also asked other monastic disciples to look upon
Vivekananda as their leader. Ramakrishna's condition
gradually worsened and he expired in the early morning hours of
August 16, 1886 at the Cossipore garden house. According to his
disciples, this was Mahasamadhi. After the death of their
master, the monastic disciples lead by Vivekananda formed a
fellowship at a half-ruined house at Baranagar near the river
Ganga, with the financial assistance of the householder
disciples. This became the first Math or monastery of the
disciples who constituted the first Ramakrishna Order.
Biographical sources
Books on Ramakrishna
According to Malcolm Mclean, the principal source for
Ramakrishna's teaching is Mahendranath Gupta's
sri-sri-ramakrisna-kathamrita. Kripal calls it "the central text
of the tradition". The text was published in five volumes from
1902 to 1932. Based on Gupta's diary notes, each of the five
volumes purports to document Ramakrishna's life from 1882–1886.
The main translation of the Kathamrita is The Gospel of Sri
Ramakrishna by Swami Nikhilananda. Nikhilananda's translation
rearranged the scenes in the five volumes of the Kathamrita into
a linear sequence. Malcolm Mclean and Jeffrey Kripal
argue that the translation is unreliable. Philosopher Lex
Hixon writes that the Gospel is "spiritually authentic" and
"powerful rendering of the Kathamrita"
Teachings
Ramakrishna's teachings were imparted in rustic Bengali, using
stories and parables. Ramakrishna's teachings made a powerful
impact on the Calcutta's intellectuals, despite the fact that
his preachings were far removed from issues of modernism or
national independence.[95] His spiritual movement indirectly
aided nationalism, as it rejected caste distinctions and
religious prejudices.
Ramakrishna emphasised God-realisation as the supreme goal of
all living beings. Ramakrishna taught that kamini-kanchana is
an obstacle to God-realization. Kamini-kanchan literally
translates to "women and gold." Carl T. Jackson interprets
kamini-kanchana to refer to the idea of sex and the idea of
money as delusions which prevent people from realizing God.
Jeffrey Kripal translates the phrase as "lover-and-gold" and
associates it with Ramakrishna's alleged disgust for women as
lovers.
Ramakrishna looked upon the world as Maya and he explained that
avidya maya represents dark forces of creation (e.g. sensual
desire, evil passions, greed, lust and cruelty), which keep
people on lower planes of consciousness. These forces are
responsible for human entrapment in the cycle of birth and
death, and they must be fought and vanquished. Vidya maya, on
the other hand, represents higher forces of creation (e.g.
spiritual virtues, enlightening qualities, kindness, purity,
love, and devotion), which elevate human beings to the higher
planes of consciousness.
Ramakrishna practised several religions, including Islam and
Christianity, and recognized that in spite of the differences,
all religions are valid and true and they lead to the same
ultimate goal—God.[99] Ramakrishna's proclaimed that jatra jiv
tatra Shiv (wherever there is a living being, there is Shiva)
which stemmed from his Advaitic perception of Reality. His
teaching, "Jive daya noy, Shiv gyane jiv seba" (not
kindness to living beings, but serving the living being as Shiva
Himself) is considered as the inspiration for the philanthropic
work carried out by his chief disciple Vivekananda.
Impact
The marble statue of Ramakrishna at Belur Math, the headquarters
of the Ramakrishna Mission
Several organizations have been established in the name of
Ramakrishna. The Ramakrishna Math and Mission is one of the
main organizations founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897. The
Mission conducts extensive work in health care, disaster relief,
rural management, tribal welfare, elementary and higher
education. The movement is considered as one of the
revitalization movements of India. Other organizations
include the Ramakrishna-Vedanta Society founded by Swami Abhedananda in 1923, the Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission formed
by Swami Nityananda in 1976, and the Sri Sarada Math and
Ramakrishna Sarada Mission founded in 1959 as a sister
organization by the Ramakrishna Math and Mission.
Ramakrishna was born during a period of social upheaval in
Bengal in particular and India in general. During Ramakrishna's
time, Hinduism faced a significant intellectual challenge from
Westerners and Indians alike. The Hindu practice of Idol worship
came under attack especially in Bengal, and many had denounced
Hinduism and embraced Christianity or atheism. Ramakrishna and
his movement, the Ramakrishna Mission, played a leading role in
the modern revival of Hinduism in India, and on modern Indian
history. His life and teachings were an important part of the
renaissance that Bengal, and later India, experienced in the
19th century. Many great thinkers including Max Muller, Mahatma
Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sri Aurobindo, Leo Tolstoy have
acknowledged Ramakrishna's contribution to humanity.
Ramakrishna's influence is also seen in the works of the artists
like Franz Dvorak (1862–1927), and Philip Glass.
Views and studies
Religious school of thought
Several scholars have tried to associate Ramakrishna with a
particular religious school of thought—Bhakti, Tantra and
Vedanta.
In his influential 1896 essay "A real mahatma: Sri
Ramakrishna Paramahansa Dev" and his 1899 book R?makrishna: His
Life and Sayings, the German philologist and Orientalist Max
M?ller portrayed Ramakrishna as "a wonderful mixture of God and
man" and as "...a Bhakta, a worshipper or lover of the deity,
much more than a G??nin or a knower."
In London and New York in 1896, Swami Vivekananda delivered his
famous address on Ramakrishna entitled "My Master." He said of
his master: "this great intellect never learnt even to write his
own name, but the most brilliant graduates of our university
found in him an intellectual giant."[106] Vivekananda criticized
his followers for "brazenly" projecting Ramakrishna as an
avatara and miracle-worker. Narasingha Sil has argued that
Vivekananda revised and mythologized Ramakrishna's image after
Ramakrishna's death. Amiya P. Sen writes that the
projection of Ramakrishna as a Vedantin by Vivekananda and his
numerous disciples is "testified" by "no less than Ramakrishna
himself" and the Kathamrita.
Indologist Heinrich Zimmer was the first Western scholar to
interpret Ramakrishna's worship of the Divine Mother as
containing specifically Tantric elements. Neeval also
argued that tantra played a main role in Ramakrishna's spiritual
development.
Philosopher Lex Hixon writes Ramakrishna was an Advaita
Vedantin. Postcolonial literary theorist Gayatri
Chakravorty Spivak wrote that Ramakrishna was a "Bengali bhakta
visionary" and that as a bhakta, "he turned chiefly towards
Kali."[]miya P.Sen writes that "it is really difficult to
separate the Tantrik Ramakrishna from the Vedantic", since
Vedanta and Tantra "may appear to be differ in some respects",
but they also "share some important postulates between them".
Psychoanalysis and Sexuality
The dialogue between psychoanalysis and Ramakrishna began in
1927 when Sigmund Freud's friend Romain Rolland wrote to him
that he should consider spiritual experiences, or "the oceanic
feeling," in his psychological works.Romain Rolland described
the mystical states achieved by Ramakrishna and other mystics as
an "'oceanic' sentiment," one which Rolland had also
experienced. Rolland believed that the universal human religious
emotion resembled this "oceanic sense." In his 1929 book La vie
de Ramakrishna, Rolland distinguished between the feelings of
unity and eternity which Ramakrishna experienced in his mystical
states and Ramakrishna's interpretation of those feelings as the
goddess Kali.
Some scholars of Indian religion, including Narasingha Sil,Jeffrey Kripal, and Sudhir Kakar, analyze
Ramakrishna's mysticism and religious practices using
psychoanalysis, arguing that his mystical visions, refusal
to comply with ritual copulation in Tantra, Madhura Bhava,
criticism of Kamini-Kanchana (women and gold) reflects
homosexuality. Jeffrey Kripal's controversial Kali's Child:
The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of
Ramakrishna (1995) argued that Ramakrishna rejected Advaita
Vedanta in favor of Shakti Tantra. In this psychoanalytic
study of Ramakrishna's life, Kripal argued that
Ramakrishna’s mystical experiences were symptoms of repressed
homoeroticism. Other scholars and psychoanalysts including Romain Rolland,[84] Alan Roland,[116][128] Kelly Aan Raab,[129]
Somnath Bhattacharyya,, J.S. Hawley and Gayatri
Chakravorty Spivak[ argue that psychoanalysis is unreliable and
Ramakrishna's religious practices were in line with Bengali
tradition.
Christopher Isherwood who wrote the book Ramakrishna and his
Disciples (1965) said in a late interview,"Ramakrishna was
completely simple and guileless. He told people whatever came
into his mind, like a child. If he had ever been troubled by
homosexual desires, if that had ever been a problem he'd have
told everybody about them.(...) His thoughts transcended
physical love-making. He saw even the mating of two dogs on the
street as an expression of the eternal male-female principle in
the universe. I think that is always a sign of great spiritual
enlightenment."
In his 1991 book The Analyst and the Mystic, Indian
psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar saw in Ramakrishna's visions a
spontaneous capacity for creative experiencing.[135] Kakar also
argued that culturally relative concepts of eroticism and gender
have contributed to the Western difficulty in comprehending
Ramakrishna.[136] Kakar saw Ramakrishna's seemingly bizarre acts
as part of a bhakti path to God. |
