Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
Thursday January 27 2005 08:36 IST
By Karmayogi
Sri Aurobindo called
him a spiritual prodigy. It is a rare spiritual adventure that he undertook to
experience the realisations of various religions.
He would not have been known outside Dakshineshwar had not Swami Vivekananda
emerged as the soul of India and carried the message of Vedanta
beyond our shores. His discourses recorded by M are published under the title
'Ramakrishna Upanishadam'.
It is the upanishadam for common souls like us. The title is an apt Tamil
idiomatic coinage. Ideas are explained through arguments and arguments by
explanations. In India, symbolism has been developed as a
major vehicle of communication. Our ancient literature is full of it.
Intellectuals are annoyed if an example is offered, as it is, at least in their
opinion, an affront to their comprehension. Indians enjoy listening to an
analogy. Sri Ramakrishna in his unlettered wisdom excelled in it.
Adwaita is to shed dwaita, the dualities, and seek identification. How to make
real to the ordinary human mind the concept of identification? It is a task.
Not to Sri Ramakrishna.
When we understand to some extent, the mind wants to have a wider territory of
understanding. So, MAN wants to understand GOD! Most of the questions put to
the Paramahamsa were ones that demanded greater comprehension.
It never strikes Man that there are things in the higher world for us waiting
to be acquired bypassing understanding. Sri Aurobindo asks how can this
smallness – Man – understand that Immensity? Sri Ramakrishna combined the
answers to these two difficult questions – identification with God,
comprehending Brahman – and created an analogy.
He spoke of a doll made of salt endowed with walking. The first thing the doll
attempted was to fathom the ocean, not knowing it would be dissolved in the
water.
Man is like a doll of salt that attains 'identification' with its
origin, the sea, by the ignorant effort to understand what is beyond
understanding. Sages never seek publicity, especially if they are working for
the world in the subtle plane. To be known is not wrong, maybe good, as people
knowing the Rishi come to know what he has realised.
To be known is different from wanting to be known. All great movements of the
world have emanated from the Minds of Sages. Mostly they dispel or dissolve
hostile forces; often they set Revolutions afoot. All the discoveries,
explorations, and inventions are first suggested to a Saint of that region and
later sprout through a lesser mind or minds. Sri Ramakrishna belonged to a
species that did his work silently and sought no publicity of any description.