Beacon of spiritual wisdom

What explains the popularity of Sri Ramakrishna and the enduring appeal of his words? He taught a universal acceptance of all religions which he claimed leads to the direct experience of God. His quest to realize God from his early childhood onward energized experimentation to verify Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity, not in matters of doctrinal truths but the actual attainment of God-realization. His Hindu worldview, being intrinsically pluralist, encouraged him to discover whether or not such pluralism was valid not only within the Hindu pantheon but also in other religions. The English novelist Christopher Isherwood, having served with Aldous Huxley and Gerald Heard on the Editorial Advisory Board for the Vedanta Society of Southern California wrote of Sri Ramakrishna as "lively, affectionate, ready to be friends with everybody."

Sri Ramakrishna experienced in the Vedanta two basic ideas: the oneness of the entire universe (Brahman) and the divinity and uniqueness of the self (Atman). The same self is manifested in various ways- various faces, various forms, and various stages of evaluation. Vedanta asserted that it is the self of man, the undying, immortal Atman, which is man’s real basis. Vedanta is the connecting link between one faith and another. Sri Ramakrishna proclaimed the truths of the different religions of the world and came to this Vedantic conclusion: that all religions are right in their inner core, they are speaking of the same God, and of the same spirit in man. Sri Ramakrishna gave the Indian awakening the proper spiritual content it lacked. So the relevance of Sri Ramakrishna can be explained in terms of the renaissance of spirituality in an absolute sense. Purity of mind, simplicity of life and keeping the ideal of reaching the highest spiritual state as the goal of life- Sri Ramakrishna simplified and straightened up the whole idea of spirituality itself. He could strike a balance between reason and faith, free will and self-surrender. He offered a solution to many problems in life. This takes us to his dictum of Divinity of Man, which was nothing but a reassertion of the age-old truth of Vedanta. He asserted that service to man was the highest form of worship and this god-centric humanism was unique.

Today there is a growing concern for human rights. Sri Ramakrishna had taught to respect the rights of others, and what was more important, was to respect the dignity of man. The interesting point about the life and preaching of Ramakrishna is his gripping importance as a subject for understanding both contemporary religious life and existential angst that attracted very different classes or groups of people. In recent years, Ramakrishna has emerged as fascinating material for the study of the social and cultural history of his times as also an understanding of the inner dynamic of the Hindu spiritual tradition. The first has been the work of social historians, and the second, that of scholars of philosophy and religious studies.

Sri Ramakrishna’s appeal as a spiritual figure was considerably enhanced by his recourse to a varied religious praxis, undergoing by turn Vaishnava, Sakta, Tantric, Christian and Islamic forms of worship, and concluding therefrom that there were as many valid paths to God as there could be opinions. Arguably, this struck at the root of all bigotry, intolerance and zealous self-righteousness. Also, important here is his avowed rejection of a religious synthesis that randomly fused chosen elements from various religions as was indeed the case with the contemporary Brahmo preacher, Keshab Chandra Sen. All religious traditions, rather than remain porous, had to be bound by a given core of beliefs and practices. "The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth" as echoed by Swami Vivekananda at the Parliament of World Religions in 1893.

Ramakrishna also had two other outstanding qualities which made him the figure he was. First, there was in him the gifted storyteller who communicated profound wisdom in the simplest and most entertaining of languages. Second, there was the man blessed with acute powers of observation who well understood the existential needs of a wide cross-section of people: unemployed youth, widows, neglected housewives, ill-adjusted couples, and people affected by death and bereavement. Quite aptly, he once described himself as a grocer who stocked a variety of goods and merchandise that would meet the varied requirements of most. This lies at the root of his continuing appeal.

Sri Ramakrishna strongly asserted ‘Religion is not for someone with an empty stomach’ and this formed the bedrock of Swami Vivekananda’s philosophy. Though he had no direct contribution to the ideas of economic and political freedom, we can read a flash of socialistic principles from the sayings of Sri Ramakrishna. He rediscovered and revitalized India’s eternal message of humanism and universalism and made it a property of mankind. According to him, through self-control, discipline and self-purification, man can realize his divine nature. By this method, even the most degraded can be pushed towards perfection. This continuous process of inner growth towards perfection is the essence of practical Vedanta. Though he did not consider the individual in isolation, he stressed the individual rather than society. He was essentially a believer in human development and he considered material development only coming in as an adjunct to the development of man. He aimed at the growth of the goodness inherent in man leading him to the realization of the divinity already in man. The teachings of Sri Ramakrishna and the inimitable way in which he underlined the hollowness of man-made communal dissension should be an eye-opener for those who have been using this to their convenience to ensure community-based electoral gains.

Sri Ramakrishna believed that it was more important for the believers in any faith to clothe the unclothed, feed the unfed, wipe the tears off the eyes of the suffering and look for the real God organised in the common man than perform religious chores. His teachings were relevant not only to the age in which he lived but also to the world today and the ages to come. He urged people to free themselves from religious sectarianism, narrowness, fanaticism, exclusiveness and bigotry so that religion could once more realize its true function of promoting peace, harmony and understanding between the people of the world. Sri Ramakrishna’s reassertion of the very essence of Hinduism in his own unique way and the supreme importance he gave to all religions as they all lead to the same goal, were his most significant contribution to the renaissance movement of India. Swami Vivekananda was not exaggerating when he said, ‘His life is a searchlight of infinite power thrown upon the whole mass of Indian religious thought. He was the living commentary on the Vedas and their aim. He had lived in one life the whole cycle of the national religious existence of India.’ The foundation of the Ramakrishna Mission and its multifarious social, cultural, educational and humanitarian activities since its inception are a testimony to Sri Ramakrishna’s significant and lasting contribution to the Indian awakening. The Mission has successfully demonstrated the spiritual values of the novel method of divine worship through the service of humanity.

Those who follow and try to live by the teachings on harmony espoused by Sri Ramakrishna subscribe to Vedanta, but actively engage with participants of various religions the world over. They continue to follow the example of Sri Ramakrishna appreciating different religions as a unique path leading to the same divine realization as propounded in the Rig Veda aeons ago, “Ekang Sat Vipra Vahuda Vadanti”- Truth is One, though the sages call it by many names.

When one reads his life and teachings, he gets an idea of what it means to live a spiritual life. His life was an affirmation of the scriptural truths handed down to mankind from time unheard of.

He rediscovered and revitalized India’s message of humanism and universalism.

The author is an ardent public speaker on the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement. Views expressed are personal