रामाक्रिशाना paramhans

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836-1886)
Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was born on February 18, 1836. He was a Bengali religious leader. He was a devotee of the Goddess Kali. As a young man he became a temple priest. He immersed himself in intense meditation and other spiritual practices. He became a teacher of Advaita Vedanta Hinduism. He placed “Spiritual Religion” above “Blind Ritualism”.

In his thirst for the divine, Ramakrishna followed different religious paths including various branches of Hinduism. But finally he reached to conclusion that all religions lead to the same goal. Ramakrishna said that his experience of nirvikalpa Samadhi convinced him that the Gods of various religions are merely so many interpretations of the Absolute and that the ultimate reality could never be expressed in human terms. Through many of his Sikh devotees he learned of their faith and its great founders. This exposure to Sikhism and Buddhism further confirmed his experience of the Universality of spiritual truth.

Ramakrishna also believed that his experience of nirvikalpa Samadhi gave him an understanding of the two sides of maya (illusion) which are avidyamaya and vidyamaya. Avidyamaya represents the dark forces of creation which keep the world system on lower planes of consciousness. Vidyamaya, on the other hand, represents the higher forces of creation which elevate human beings to the higher planes of consciousness. With the help of vidyamaya, the devotees can achieve the ultimate goal of becoming mayatita, which means free from maya.

He revitalized Hinduism which had been fraught with excessive ritualism and superstition in the nineteenth century and helped it better respond to challenges from Islam, Christianity, and the dawn of the modern era. The four key concepts in Ramakrishna’s teachings were the following:

The oneness of existence
The divinity of human beings
The unity of God
The harmony of religions

The Ramakrishna Mission was founded by Swami Vivekananda, but it was his spiritual master, Ramakrishna, who directly provided the main impetus for this movement. Although the Brahmo Samaj and the Arya Samaj preceded the Ramakrishna Mission, their influence on a larger level was limited. The life and teachings of this Man of God have had a tremendous impact on the world at large as well as on the people of India.

Among his many other noteworthy characteristics were his universality and child-like purity, intense sincerity, his vast knowledge of thins spiritual and human, and his extraordinary power to transform lives.

His whole life was literally an uninterrupted contemplation of God. He reached a depth of God-consciousness that transcends all time and place and has a universal appeal. Through his Godly life Sri Ramakrishna proved that the revelation of God takes place at all times and that realizing God is not the monopoly of any particular age, or people. In him deepest spirituality and broadest catholicity stood side by side. In the present day world, threatened by nuclear war and torn by religious intolerance, Ramakrishna’s message of harmony gives us hope and shows the right way.

Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna:



I tell you the truth: there is nothing wrong in your being in the world. But you must direct your mind towards God.

There is one whom you may call your own, and that is God.

Money can fetch you bread alone. Do not consider it as your sole end and aim.

You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say that there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O, man because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not there is no God.

Seekest thou God? Then seek him in man! His Divinity is manifest more in man than in any other object. Man is greatest manifestation of God.

Women naturally whether good or not, whether chaste or unchaste, should always be regarded as images of the Blissful Divine Mother.

The ego that asserts, ‘I am the servant of God’ is the characteristic of the true devotee. It is the ego of vidya (knowledge), and is called the ‘ripe’ ego.

Let me be condemned to be born over and over again, even in the form of a dog, if so I can be of help to a single soul.

To become great, one must be humble. The tree laden with fruit always bends low. So if you wish to be great, be lowly and meek.

If you say, ‘I am a sinner’, eternally, you will remain a sinner to all eternity. You ought to rather repeat, ‘I am not bound. I am not bound. Who can bind me? I am the son of God, the King of Kings’.


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