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The spiritually super rich
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News Byte on 19 February, 2008 01:56:00
 
Sri Ramakrishna (1836-86) was an original man with an off-beat lifestyle. His
exceptional quality was in his consummate renunciation and love of God as well
as man. Materially he was poor, but spiritually super rich.
He was the “one”, said Swami Vivekananda, “who would see in
every sect the same spirit working, the same God; one who would see God in every
being, one whose heart would weep for the poor, for the weak, for the outcast,
for the downtrodden, for every one in this world, inside India or outside; and
at the same time whose grand brilliant intellect would conceive of such noble
thoughts as would harmonise all conflicting sects, not only in India but outside
of India, and bring a marvelous harmony, the universal religion of head and
heart, into existence.”
To come by such a combination of all glorious human traits in a single
character is rare and far between. It isn’t, therefore, surprising that he
still draws people of all walks of life, believer or non-believer. Even to those
to whom religion is redundant, Sri Ramakrishna seems indispensable, particularly
in the modern contexts.
Most of the scholars today believe that here is a man who harbours so much
novelty yet so little cynicism in him. A modern historian such as Sumit Sarkar
finds it necessary to focus attention on “a social history of the
religious world of Ramakrishna”. He sees his peculiarity in the fact that
“the rustic Brahman becoming the guru of the city bhadralok, the latter
falling under the spell of an idiom, values, and personality very different from
their own”.
While “premium” was being “placed”, according to
Sarkar, “on varied forms of social activism: education, religious and
social reform, revivalism, philanthropy, patriotic endeavour” Ramakrishna
“seemed” to him “to represent the very opposite of all such
valorizations and initiatives”. This is a peculiar point presided over by
Ramakrishna, he thinks, and needs to be “problematised and explored”
for the sake of understanding the “trajectories” evolved by
“village culture and religion on the one hand, and the contradictions of
bhadralok life on the other”. Intricate reflections of this sort
indubitably prove the truth that it is hard to remain aloof from Sri Ramakrishna
in spite of his unusual behaviour.
He has, incidentally, made his way, even down to global business nowadays. Of
all the great men, Ruchir Sharma chooses him and begins his column in the
Newsweek (3 September, 2007) citing one of his sayings: “When asked why
evil exists in the world, the Indian saint Ramakrishna answered: ‘To
thicken the plot.’ Well, volatility plays a similar role in the financial
marketplace.”
However, if one seriously tries to understand the uniqueness of Ramakrishna one
has obviously to fall back on Vivekananda again and again, for he is the one who
saw him day in day out and had made a critical study of his character and
contribution. Interestingly, in doing so Vivekananda, who had begun as a
skeptic, ended up as a seer.
He noted that Ramakrishna absorbed “the sum total of all religious
ideals” and “incorporated” their “universal and eternal
aspects in his life to become a living example of eternal religion, which he
lived before all for the good of humanity”. He, in fine, deemed Sri
Ramakrishna as “the living commentary on the Vedas and to their
aim”, and proclaimed that he “lived in one life the whole cycle of
the national religious existence in India”.
Sri Ramakrishna was quite aware of the peril of “fundamentalism”.
He reads the crux of his realisation thus: “Do you know what the truth is?
God has made different religions to suit different aspirants, times, and
countries. All doctrines are so many paths; but a path is by no means God
Himself. Indeed, one can reach God if one follows any of the paths with
whole-hearted devotion. Suppose there are errors in the religion that one has
accepted; if one is sincere and earnest, then God Himself will correct those
errors.”
The versatile Vedic scholar Prof F Max Muller (1823-1900), who became
acquainted with Ramakrishna’s ideas in Ramakrishna’s lifetime
itself, could conveniently follow the implications of his words. Although he
never visited India yet he was well posted about the significant happenings in
the country. He was deeply intrigued by Ramakrishna’s **sadhana**, life
and teaching and felt an urge to give air to his observations, compiling some of
his valuable precepts. It is certainly an important historical event that
Ramakrishna struck him as “special” and “compelling”.
Swamiji himself was pleased to read Max Muller’s article on his Master
“written in the Nineteenth Century” in its August issue of 1896.
The Professor indicates in it that Ramakrishna became a cynosure and exerted
influence on the intelligentsia of Kolkata. He writes: “Pratap Chander
Mozoomdar, the leader of Brahma Samaj and well known to many people in England,
tells me of the extraordinary influence which the Mahatman (Ramakrishna)
exercised on Keshub Chander Sen, on himself, and on a large number of highly
educated men in Calcutta.”
He was clearly amazed by Ramakrishna’s rigorous spiritual practice and
its astounding results. Earlier, he was evidently eager to know someone
practicing the “very severe kind of asceticism (yoga) which is intended to
produce trances (samadhi) and ecstatic utterances”, regarding which he had
sufficient academic wisdom. When he learns about Ramakrishna his feeling takes
the turn of an untrammelled expression: “We cannot quite understand them,
but in the case of our Mahatman we cannot doubt their reality, and can only
stand by and wonder, particularly when so much that seems to us the outcome of a
broken frame of body and overwrought state of mind, contains nevertheless so
much that is true and wise and beautiful.”
Since Max Muller was able to detect the epitome of Ramakrishna’s work, it
wasn’t difficult for him to understand that “he showed, in fact, how
it was possible to unify all the religions of the world by seeing only what is
good in every one of them, and showing sincere reverence to every one who has
suffered for the truth, for their faith in God, and for their love of
men”.
The well known British historian Arnold J Toynbee discovers that “Sri
Ramakrishna’s message was unique in being expressed in action”. His
pragmatic approach appears to him powerful. He found his “religious
activity and experience” so comprehensive “that had perhaps never
before been attained by any other religious genius, in India or
elsewhere”. He believes that the world is now heading for an “Indian
end”.
Without mincing words, he gives a piece of his mind: “In the present age,
the world has been united on the material plane by Western technology. But this
Western skill has not only “annihilated distance; it has armed the people
of the world with weapons of devastating power when they have been brought to
point-blank range of each other without yet having learnt to know and love each
other. At this supremely dangerous moment in human history, the only way of
salvation for mankind is an Indian way. Emperor Ashoka and Mahatma
Gandhi’s principle of non-violence and Sri Ramakrishna’s testimony
of harmony of religions; here we have the attitude and the spirit that can make
it possible for the human race to grow together into a single family ~ and, in
the atomic age, this is the only alternative to destroying ourselves.”
It reflects his feeling of concern for the morally declining world and his
sincere effort for an effective means of its recovery.
The prevailing struggle between “Modernity” and
“Tradition” and the consequent rise of “Fundamentalism”
must have disturbed him. It was a cause of much worry to Ramakrishna too. He has
repeatedly stressed that our life shorn of spiritual essence is futile. He
reminds us that mind focused on various external things is decomposed and a
harbinger of ignorance. But the same mind controlled and concentrated upon the
one behind all things is an instrument of true knowledge revealing the reality.
And the transcendental consciousness achieved by relentless spiritual pursuit
evokes the knowledge of the Absolute Truth or God, destroying all confusions for
good. In his typical style he makes it clear thus: “To know many things is
**ajnana**, ignorance. To know only one thing is jnana, knowledge ~ the
realisation that God alone is real and that He dwells in all. And to talk to Him
is vijnana, a fuller knowledge. To love God in different ways is vijnana.”
He removes the doubt that thinking of God one becomes mad. He argues by dint of
his personal experience: “God is of the nature of eternity, Purity, and
Consciousness. Through His Consciousness one becomes conscious of everything;
through His Intelligence the whole world appears intelligent.”
He shows that our ego holds us back and creates all sorts of problems in the
way of our being conscious. So he demonstrates processes practicable to be
ego-less and perspicuous. He, in fact, leaves a mould for us, leading an
innocuous life. If we so wish we could cast ourselves in it, straddling both
plenty and penury. But he was never forgetful of the basic fact that one forgets
all about God if one gets nothing to eat. So he talks of filling the empty
stomachs first.
In the world of conflicts and confusions about God he speaks something of
abiding value with adequate reason and emphasis which catches our imagination
immediately. He says: “If you believe that God is formless, then stick to
that belief with firm conviction. But don’t be dogmatic: never say
emphatically about God that He can be only this and not that. You may say:
“I believe that God is formless. But He can be many things more. He alone
knows what else He can be. I don’t know; I don’t understand.”
How can man with his one ounce of intelligence know the real nature of God? Can
you put four seers of milk in one seer of jar?”
Loss of humility and a supercilious attitude, Ramakrishna observed, was the
root cause of all worldly strife. He therefore asks us to sublimate our
self-aggrandised demeanour through a process of submission to the will of God.
“Not me, but Thou” is the mantra he has given us for the purpose. He
displays that the role of a perennial learner abrogates many a hassle in our
day-to-day activity. His life is an open book which serves lessons that never
end. One who is earnest about them is profoundly prudent and spiritual.
“He was contented simply to live that great life and leave it to others
to find the explanation.” And that’s what was being sincerely done
by Swamiji himself. His lecture “My Master” is a splendid piece of
work which holds out scintillating ideas useful for an elevated human culture.
Absorbing them, many attributed new meanings to their lives and grew different.
Swamiji is the brightest star in their midst, glowing with an impeccable shine
of humility, knowledge and realisation. He says: “Others love me
personally. But they little dream that what they love me for is Ramakrishna;
leaving Him, I am only a mass of foolish selfish emotions.”
(The author is a monk at the Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith, Deoghar)