Sri Ramakrishna - A life divine

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Sri Ramakrishna a life - divine

• Dr.T.V.Rao MD
• doctortvrao_at_gmail.com

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Sri Ramakrishna - a life divine
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Who is Sri Ramakrishna

• Ramakrishna was born on 18 February 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.
  His parents were Khudiram Chattopâdhyâya and
  Chandramani Devî. According to his followers,
  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 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

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Sri Ramakrishna

• He became a priest of the Dakshineswar Kali
  Temple, dedicated to the 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.Though conventionally uneducated, he
  attracted the attention of the middle class,
  upper middle class and numerous Bengali
  intellectuals

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Made the religion simple

• If you desire to be pure, have firm faith, and
  slowly go on with your devotional practices
  without wasting your energy in useless scriptural
  discussions and arguments. Your little brain will
  otherwise be muddled.

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All religions are true

• God can be realized through all paths. All
  religions are true. The important thing is to
  reach the roof. You can reach it by stone stairs
  or by wooden stairs or by bamboo steps or by a
  rope. You can also climb up by a bamboo pole.

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Realization of God

• Knowledge leads to unity, but Ignorance to
  diversity.So long as God seems to be outside and
  far away, there is ignorance. But when God is
  realized within, that is true knowledge.

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A true divinity in man realize it

• God is in all men, but all men are not in God
  that is why we suffer.
• It is easy to talk on religion, but difficult to
  practice it.
• More are the names of God and infinite are the
  forms through which He may be approached. In
  whatever name and form you worship Him, through
  them you will realize Him.

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How to attain the god

• Those who wish to attain God and progress in
  religious devotion, should particularly guard
  themselves against the snares of lust and wealth.
  Otherwise they can never attain perfection.

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Ramakrishna and His Disciples by Christopher
Isherwood,

• Chant the name of God and sing his glories
  unceasingly and keep holy company. Now and then
  one should visit holy men and devotees of God. If
  a man lives in the world and busies himself day
  and night with worldly duties and
  responsibilities, he cannot give his mind to God.
  So it's important to go into solitude from time
  to time, and think about God. When the plant is
  young, it should be fenced on all sides. Unless
  there's a fence around it, goats and cattle may
  eat it up.When you meditate, go into the
  solitude of a forest, or a quiet corner, and
  enter into the chamber of your heart. And always
  keep your power of discrimination awake. God
  alone is real, that is to say, eternal
  everything else is unreal, because it will pass
  away. As you discriminate in this manner, let
  your mind give up its attachment to the fleeting
  objects of this world. Attend to all your
  duties but keep your mind fixed on God. Wife,
  son, father, mother  live with all of them and
  serve them, as if they were your very own. But
  know in your heart of hearts that they are not
  your own

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Give up the attachment

• In the Kaliyuga, man, being totally dependent on
  food for life, cannot altogether shake off the
  idea that he is the body. In this state of mind
  it is not proper for him to say "I am He". When
  a man does all sorts of worldly things, he should
  not say, "I am Brahman". Those who cannot give up
  attachment to worldly things, and who find no
  means to shake off the feeling of "I", should
  rather cherish the idea, "I am God's servant I
  am His devotee."

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God alone helps everyone

• Man cannot really help the world. God alone does
  that He who has created the sun and the moon,
  who has put love for their children in parents'
  hearts, endowed noble souls with compassion, and
  holy men and devotees with divine love. The man
  who works for others, without any selfish motive,
  really does good to himself. There is gold buried
  in your heart, but you are not yet aware of it.
  It is covered with a thin layer of earth. Once
  you are aware of it, all these activities of
  yours will lessen.  Through selfless work, love
  of God grows in the heart. Then, through His
  grace, one realizes Him in course of time. God
  can be seen, one can talk to Him, as I am talking
  to you

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The master said try to practice

• Everything that exists is God." The pupil
  understood it literally, but not in the true
  spirit. While he was passing through a street, he
  met with an elephant. The driver (mahut) shouted
  aloud from his high place, "Move away, move
  away!" The pupil argued in his mind, "Why should
  I move away? I am God, so is the elephant also
  God. What fear has God of Himself?" Thinking thus
  he did not move. At last the elephant took him up
  by his trunk, and dashed him aside. He was
  severely hurt, and going back to his Master, he
  related the whole adventure. The Master said,
  "All right, you are God. The elephant is God
  also, but God in the shape of the elephant-driver
  was warning you also from above. Why did you not
  pay heed to his warnings?"

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God laughsat your pride.

• He laughs when the physician says to the
  patient's mother, "Don't be afraid, mother I
  shall certainly cure your boy." God laughs,
  saying to Himself, "I am going to take his life,
  and this man says he will save it!" The physician
  thinks he is the master, forgetting that God is
  the Master. God laughs again when two brothers
  divide their land with a string, saying to each
  other, "This side is mine and that side is
  yours." He laughs and says to Himself, "The whole
  universe belongs to Me, but they say they own
  this portion or that portion."

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Lovers of God do not belong to any caste.

• ... A brahmin without this love is no longer a
  brahmin. And a pariah with the love of God is no
  longer a pariah. Through bhakti an untouchable
  becomes pure and elevated.

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The world is Maya realize

• This maya, that is to say, the ego, is like a
  cloud. The sun cannot be seen on account of a
  thin patch of cloud when that disappears one
  sees the sun. If by the grace of the guru one's
  ego vanishes, then one sees God.

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Get rid of pride

• One cannot attain divine knowledge till one gets
  rid of pride. Water does not stay on the top of a
  mound but into low land it flows in torrents
  from all sides.

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Realize the purpose of our lives

• You have been born in this world as a human being
  to worship God therefore try to acquire love for
  His Lotus Feet. Why do you trouble yourself to
  know a hundred other things? What will you gain
  by discussing philosophy? Look here, one ounce of
  liquor is enough to intoxicate you. What is the
  use of your trying to find out how many gallons
  of liquor there are in the tavern?

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Realize the goal of Human life

• The goal can never be reached unless a man makes
  his mind strong, and firmly resolves that he must
  realize God in this very birth, nay, this very
  moment.

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God is one - opinions are many

• One should not think, "My religion alone is the
  right path and other religions are false." God
  can be realized by means of all paths. It is
  enough to have sincere yearning for God. Infinite
  are the paths and infinite the opinions.

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Who is a freeman

• By constantly repeating, "I am free, I am free",
  a man verily becomes free. On the other hand, by
  constantly repeating, "I am bound, I am bound",
  he certainly becomes bound to worldliness. The
  fool who says only, "I am a sinner, I am a
  sinner", verily drowns himself in worldliness.
  One should rather say "I have chanted the name
  of God. How can I be a sinner? How can I be
  bound?"

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Why do not find god..

• O man, because you cannot find God in the days of
  your ignorance, say not that there is no God.
• The vain man of intellect busies himself with
  finding out the "why" and "wherefore" of
  creation, while the humble man of wisdom makes
  friends with the Creator and enjoys His gift of
  supreme bliss.

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When you become strong

• When you grow strong in faith, no worldliness or
  evil inclination will dare approach your holy
  presence and many who are wicked will become
  godly through their holy contact with you.

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It is easier to attain the God .

• One can easily realize God if one is free from
  guile. Spiritual instruction produces quick
  results in a guileless heart. Such a heart is
  like well cultivated land from which all the
  stones have been removed. No sooner is the seed
  sown than it germinates. The fruit also appears
  quick

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Speak the truth you are near to god

• Unless one always speaks the truth, one cannot
  find God Who is the soul of truth
• God alone is the guide and Guru of the universe.

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All paths lead to God choice is
yours

• For Ramakrishna, bhakti cannot be defined in a
  single word, rather, a cluster of words is
  necessary. A path will do only if it is
  characterized by sincerity, earnestness, and
  single-minded devotion. Only then will we find
  that all paths lead to God
• R. W. Neufeldt

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Who is your guru the truth is god alone

• Who is whose Guru? God alone is the guide and
  Guru of the universe.