Ramakrishna, his life and sayings
Ramakrishna: 20th February 1833, to 16th August 1886, 1 A.M ( Footnote: Even dates are inaccurate in the biographical notices of Ramakrishna, as published in various Indian papers immediately after his death)
“I have therefore tried to collect as much information as I could about this lately-deceased Indian Saint (who died in 1886), partly from his own devoted disciples, partly from Indian newspapers, journals, and books in which the principal events of his life were chronicled, and his moral and religious teaching described and discussed, whether in a friendly or unfriendly spirit”.
F. MAX MÜLLER
[1898]
From the Collected Edition of Prof. Max Müller’s Works,
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.C..
NEW YORK, TORONTO
BOMBAY, CALCUTTA AND MADRAS
[1898]
“I applied, therefore to one of his most eminent pupils, Vivekananda, asking him to write down for me what he could tell of his own knowledge of his venerable teacher, and I received from him a full description of his Master’s life. It will be easily seen, however, that even this account is not quite free from traditional elements. If I give it as much as possible unaltered, I have a reason for it”.
“I had made it as clear as possible to Vivekananda that the accounts hitherto published of his Master, however edifying they might be to his followers, would sound perfectly absurd to European students, that stories of miraculous events in childhood, of apparitions of goddesses (devi) communicating to the Samnyasin a knowledge of languages and literatures which, as we know, he never possessed in real life, would simply be thrown away on us poor unbelievers, and that descriptions of miracles performed by the Saint, however well authenticated, ”would produce the very opposite effect of what they were intended for. Vivekânanda himself is a man who knows England and America well, and perfectly understood what I meant. Yet even his unvarnished description of his Master discloses here and there the clear traces of what I call the Dialogic Process, and the irrepressible miraculising tendencies of devoted disciples”.
“The temple of the goddess Kâlî at Dakshinesvara, about five miles to the north of Calcutta, was established in 1853 A.D. It stands on the side of the Ganges, and is one of the finest temples in India. The temple deeds were drawn in the name of the Guru, or spiritual director of Râni Râsmoni, for she being of a lower caste, none of the higher castes would come to the temple and take food there if she drew the deeds in her own name. The eldest brother of Srî Râmakrishna was appointed as priest to the temple. The two brothers came on the day when the temple was first opened and established, but such were the caste prejudices of Râmakrishna at that time that he protested vehemently against his brother’s taking service under a Sûdra woman, or one of the lowest caste, and would not take any cooked food in the temple precincts, because it was forbidden in the Sâstras. So, amidst all the rejoicings of the day, in which some fifteen to twenty thousand people were sumptuously entertained, he was the only man who kept his fast. At night he went to the grocer’s close by, took a pice-worth of fried paddy, and returned to Calcutta.
“A brief sketch of the teachings of Râmakrishna, and a few of his sayings, which Keshub published, were sufficient to rouse a wide interest in the Paramahamsa, and numbers of highly-educated men of Calcutta and women of noble family began to pour in to receive instruction from this wonderful Yogin”.
Preface
Contents
The Mahatmans
The Four Stages of Life
Samnyâsins or Saints
Ascetic Exercises or Yoga
Râmakrishna
Dayânanda Sarasvatî
Pawari Baba
Debendranath Tagore
Rai Shaligram Saheb Bahadur
Ramakrishna
The Dialogic Process
Ramakrishna’s Life
Remarks on Ramakrishna’s Life
Mozoomdar’s Judgement
Ramakrishna’s Language
Ramakrishna’s Wife
Ramakrishna’s Influence on Keshub Chunder Sen
Vedanta-philosophy
Ekam advitiyam. One without a Second
Γνῶθι σεαυτόν
Final Conclusion, Tat Tvamasi
The Sayings of Ramakrishna
The Sayings of Ramakrishna
The Sayings of Ramakrishna: 1-99
The Sayings of Ramakrishna: 100-199
The Sayings of Ramakrishna: 200-299
The Sayings of Ramakrishna: 300-395
Index to the Sayings
Read more:
- Ramakrishna Kathamrita by Gupta, Mahendranath (1902–1932)
- Ramakrishna Religion
- Swami Vivekananda – A Biography by Swami Nikhilananda (1953)
- Rani Bhabani’s Son: King Ramkrishna of Nator and His Divine Journey
