Sri Ramakrishna

Who here is familiar with his teachings? Let us unite and discuss.

"After the realization of God, He is seen in all beings. But his greater manifestation is in man. Again, among men, God manifests himself more clearly in those devotees who are sattvic, in those who have no attachment to 'women and gold.' Where can a man of samadhi rest his mind after coming down from the plane of samadhi? That is why he feels the need of seeking company of pure-hearted devotees, endowed with sattva and free from attachment to 'women and gold.' How else could such a person occupy himself in the relative plane of consciousness?" ~ Sri Ramakrishna

 

Dear NightOwl1331,

It is a wonderful thread . Thank you.

Unfortunately, I am in a hurry now, packing up gears to go out of Calcutta to the mountain-towns of Sikkim(North East India) for about 13 days.

Sri Ramakrishna, in one sentence, is my everything, my Krishna,my life.
He and his wife, Ma Sharada Mani,were the epitome of universal and unconditional love. His life was the perfect example of prem(Highest level of love). He had seen God not only outside but within himself as well.Slightest mention or hint of God used to put Him in trance. He was the epitome of the truth and never in his life had lied for anything.

He had taught us the simplest ways of attaining the realization. He had said that we can achieve the knowledge if all three attractions-that of a perfect wife(Chaste) for her husband, a miser's attraction for his wealth and a mother's attraction for her baby- are put together and applied for loving God.

He is my beloved Lord who said, "One can attain realization only when both good and bad both are accepted.Because good and bad both are God's own children".

He had said,1)"Live like that scavenger fish which lives in the muck but the muck does not touch its body."
2)"Try to be like that swan which can separate water and take the milk part only from a mixture of milk and water."
3)"Try to be like that maid who works in other's house, does all her duties there but her mind at all times stays at her own home".

It is a vast life, most exemplary. I wish everybody knows about Him for self improvement. I wish RazorofOccam read His Gospel. I still miss my dear brother, LookingSomewhereDistant. I hope, all seekers will join this thread.
I am sure, ChiefCowPie can greatly contribute here.

At last I would love to mention that I am so fortunate that my Guru was a direct disciple of Ma Sharada Moni (Mantra Guru) and was later initiated(After renunciation-Sanyas) by Swami Shibananda(Sanyas Guru) who was a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna.

I shall try to be in touch, if possible, through cyber cafe.

With love and prayers.............Kumar.

 

He indeed sounds like an amazing man...I esp. like this quote: "Live like that scavenger fish which lives in the muck but the muck does not touch its body."


Also...have a safe trip gdkumar...we will indeed miss your presence on the board

 

NAMASTE

NightOwl1331 what a great teacher.Yes i read the book teachings of Ramakrishna.for me the book is read by me as much as i read the gita.(DAILY)
It is beings like that that still work on the higher realms who shower there love and energy to us.I remember how touched i felt to have read the book for the first time.I feel it is beings like him that brought my Guru Shri Anandi Ma to me.I feel so blessed by his teachings and try to live each day by following them in my life.

 

Dying and being reborn

[size=+1](Quotations from Sri Ramakrishna)[/size]

Vijay: Sir, why are we bound like this? Why don't we see God? Ramakrishna: Maya is nothing but the egotism of the embodied soul. This egotism has covered everything like a veil. "All troubles come to an end when the ego dies." If by God's grace a man but once realizes that he is not the doer, then he at once becomes a jivanmukta: though living in the body, he is liberated. He has nothing else to fear. 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 guru's grace one's ego vanishes, then one sees God.
(pp. 226-227)

Ramakrishna: In those days of God-vision I felt as if I were passing thorugh a great storm; everything was blown away from me. No trace of my old self was left. I lost all consciousness of the world.
(p. 174) Ramakrishna: What is samadhi? It is the complete merging of the mind in God-Consciousness. The jnani experiences jada samadhi, in which no trace of I is left. The samadhi attained through the path of bhakti is called chetana samadhi. In this samadhi there remains the consciousness of I -- the I of the servant-and-Master relationship, of the lover-and-Beloved relationship, of the enjoyer-and-Food relationship. God is the Master; the devotee is the servant. God is the beloved; the devotee is the lover. God is the Food; and the devotee is the enjoyer. "I don't want to be the sugar. I want to eat it"
(p. 312)

 

In a certain village of India there was a little park where people came to sit and chat. The path to it lay alongside the forest. On the edge of the path there was a large, well-known tree. One day a city-dweller came to the village, passed the tree, and saw a peculiar lizard climbing on the trunk. When he reached the park he told the others sitting there, "I just saw a cream-colored lizard on that old tree!"

"Oh," said one man, "I know that lizard. I've seen it there several times -- but it's not cream-colored, it's green."

"No, no, not green," said another, "it is yellow." Then others chimed in: "We have seen it -- it is lavender (gray, etc.). Everyone had a different picture of the lizard.

They decided to go to the tree to find the animal and settle the argument. What they found was a hermit from the forest, sitting in meditation under the tree. The people questioned him. "I know all about that creature, who lives on this tree," he answered. (Have you guessed it? Yes. It was a chameleon.) "It is sometimes lavender, sometimes gray, sometimes green, yellow, cream, and sometimes it has really no color at all."

God, said Sri Ramakrishna, is like that chameleon, taking on different qualities and appearances, and then again He has none.

 

Do you mean ramakrishna paramahamsa? He is a great person... I Love his teachings, but one strange thing about him is that he talks about being sattvic and pure but I heard somewhere that he himself used to eat meat.

One of the qualities of sattvicism is ahimsa and love for all beings.. and taking only the things that you need from the environment.. so meat eating is not exactly looked upon as sattvic...

 

lucky chickens to be so fortunate to have their meat eaten by Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

Ramakrishna ate meat that was part of sacred offerings to Ma Kali and as such was mercy...love...prasada and beyond any ignorance as was he

meat eating as well is common among native american indians and shamanic tribes worldwide who are as well on a high level of spirituality of thankfullness to the divine as these animals offer themselves to them and loved all the same

"The Bison gives itself so the People may live" Lakota Sioux

 

ChiefCowpie,
Thank you for your post.

When you see through the veil as Ramakrishna did you see that all life is connected because we are all part of Brahman. There can be no mistakes made. You are Brahman and whatever you eat, whether it be plant or animal it is also just as much a part of Brahman.

 

I don't want to be a critic but I have to say something when I think is right...

You see, Rama krishna paramahamsa may have been a great soul and beyond the ignorance of this world... He might have been like Ramana maharshi , who is merged with brahman. I totally respect that. He is beyond sattvic , rajasic and tamasic modes of nature , thus he is not affected by them.

However, people are not like ramakrishna paramahamsa.. we are affected by rajasic, tamasic and sattvic modes... and meat is considered tamasic by the enlightened rishis and it has also been recorded that once a rishi on the trip to self realization used to eat meat in the past ... they had to go over severe penances for years again to get his/her tejas back. Because, they were affected by it.

It is very important for us ignorant ones to notice that in order to become brahman realized or even more at a higher level Bhagavan realized, we have to know that we have to leave all abominable activities alone and purify ourselves and our surroundings.

it is said in bhagavad gita as spoken by the lord krishna that a self realized soul rids himself of all abominable activities and works not just for himself, but also for the environment- (because the self realized soul realises that he is part of the whole!) - Some one post that verse here!!!

I don't know how he got brahman realized, probably he was very forward in spirituality then if he was eating meat while becoming self realized.. according to the enlightened ones of the ancient world .. you have to give up all rajasic and tamasic buddhis and that includes meat eating.

 

Namaste

Jedi i agree to a point with you.But one thing you or anyone must look at that when one is god realized saint or being you transend the three gunas.I have studied eastern thought now for 15teen years and one thing seems to be the same with all great beings they transend there lower modes for the higher.There are some who seem to come into this wold untouched by these modes then there is some who go threw them.Myself i am drawn to those who go threw the three modes that you talk of.I look and see what they did and gives me hope that while i am here or others that we too can merge in the Divine.

 

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was one of the most greatestsaints of the past century.

Even as a child of 4 I used to respond very strongly to his pictures and would talk about him often.
He is not my guru, I am a student of Swami Chinmayananda, another great mahapurusha of the 20th century.

About realised souls and the gunas...It is explained in the yoga vasistha, that souch people may contiinue to live in the world, they may display many of the qualities and colours of the mind, likes, dislikes, etc, however, their state of supreme bliss is untouched by all this, as they know it to all be a game, a dance. So Sri Ramakrishna may have eaten meat, you cannot question him. When we realise god, we may also do the same. However at our current state in evolution, we must cultivate satva guna as much as possible in order to develop spiritually. Therefore for us, meat eating would be a nono.

Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi said that a man may live of the flesh of a pig, but if he can develop love and devotion to the Lord he is more blessed than one who consumes nothing but buttermilk all his life.

Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah.

 

Dear Bhaskar,

Thank you so much.
Only His wish prevails. I do not know how to say how much I feel indebted to you for putting His photograph here. You are the instrument in His hands. Let all of us truly open up our eyes and look up at Him. This one simple job alone can liberate us. Please believe me.

With love and prayers...........Kumar.

 

Beloved Immortal Kumarji,

hari om!
It is not to me that you should be thankful, indeed I feel grateful to all who post here for giving me a much needed outlet and some wonderful satsang. It is all bhagawans will alone that brings us all to the same place at the same time. Om sri satgurave namah.

your own self,

Bhaskar

 

"Beloved Immortal Kumarji,

hari om!
It is not to me that you should be thankful, indeed I feel grateful to all who post here for giving me a much needed outlet and some wonderful satsang. It is all bhagawans will alone that brings us all to the same place at the same time. Om sri satgurave namah.

your own self,

Bhaskar"


Dear Bhaskar,

Thanks for your kind post. It is so nice to read your post. You are a picture of devotion and humility.

You have truly spoken out from my heart. After joining this forum I also felt the much needed relief and it is all,as you said, because of the wonderful sat sang that I get here. I really mean it.

People talk about all subjects but nobody is willing to spend even five minutes to talk about God or about the significance of this life. So when I found here persons like you,NightOwl1331,SvgGrdnBeauty,Know1nozme,Sleeping Jiva, BBB,Osiris,YogaLady,Sebbi,Jedi,Cloudminerva,RazorofOccam,ChiefCowPie...
..endless list, it was like a great relief and new lease of life for me. I honestly find a reason to go on.

It is all my beloved Sri Ramakrishna's compassion that I got associated with all of you. Because He knows the best, He knows who needs what. Jai Sri Ramakrishna.

With lots of love...........Kumar.

 

gdkumar,

Yes, it is wonderful to find so many people who want to talk about God. It is not easy to find people like us. And as Sri Ramakrishna taught, it is good to spend your time in the company of those who are focused on God. I hope that we will all be an inspiration to each other through our dicussions.

Here is something I've been thinking and I derived this from Sri Ramakrishna's teachings. He often spoke of God being like an ocean with no shores. So, here is my thought: We can picture ourselves as flowing down a river in this life. We can fight against the current or we can go with the flow of it. And we must try to not get caught up in the scenery along the way...because our goal is to reach the sea. So, that is how I try to live my life...stay on the river, go with the flow, don't get caught up in the scenery...and keep my mind focused on the sea. And I'm so happy to find that there are others that seem to be doing the same thing.

NightOwl

 

Just like to say I agree that Sri Ramakrishna is one of the greatest of modern seers of the truth. I am particularly impressed by the fact that he attained realization using different methods - hindu of course, but also muslim and christian. Therefore, Sri Ramakrishna repesents a way ahead out of religious intolerance and dogmatism which blights the earth at this time.


I don't think that what he taught is somehow beyond the reach of any sincere and well intentioned person - the whole point of systems of yoga and sadhana is to provide means by which all can attain, whatever their predisposition and temprament. This is brought out very well in the works of Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna's disciple and messenger, where all the various paths are expounded and explained.

 

Dear NightOwl1331,

Thank you so much for the charming post. You are Thakur's (Sri Ramakrishna's) child, no wonder you have gone so deep into the subject and you can think so beautifully in such a simple way.

No Gita, Bible, Veda or Vedanta is required to acquire the knowledge. Thakur proved this beyond any doubt. Simplicity was his hallmark which you have inherited. Simplicity is the first sign of enlightment.

You have rightly said that we are all going to mix and be one with the sea.We should, in our journey, at all times be alert that Maya(Illusions caused by material desire) should not be able to stop us. Those who want Thakur only, Thakur himself takes care of them. Many a time He had said "As you desire so you get."

Maya(Illusions caused by material attachment) is the most difficult thing to get rid of. Even Laxman could not see Lord Ram fully because Sita(Followed by Laxman) used to be behind Lord Ram.Unless Sita gave way or Laxmant went past Sita, Lord Ram could not be seen even by His own brother.Here Sita stands as a symbol representing nature.

Let us pray to Thakur, we are His dear children, He shall save us from all odds and take us to that Ocean of divinity.

With lots of love and prayers.......Kumar.

 

Check these sites up :

www.belief.net
www.hindu-religion.net
www.audarya-fellowship.com


I will make another post about this, if you are wishing for a satsang, please do check these sites up, they are filled with devotees or jyanis..and they are all free.

 

Dear Jedi,

Thank you so much.

I checked the sites, they are all nice.
Right now the best thing to happen to me is that I am with all of you.
I am very happy. Waiting to hear from you soon again.

With love.......Kumar.