Sri Ramakrishan Paramhansa
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The ‘God-man’ of Dakshineswar
Puran Chand Sharma , The ‘God-man’ of Dakshineswar "Daily Excelsior" 6/3/2016
The sacred soil of India has been the birth place of many a great soul. The epics record the descending to earth of God almighty from time to time to save the good and punish the wicked. In the recent past, God choose to comedown on earth to prove that all the paths of all the religions of the world lead to same goal-to God.
God now came as Sri Ramakrishan Paramhansa. His father was Kshudiram and his mother Chandramani. They were very poor, but righteous and honest. They lived in a beautiful village called Kamarpukur in West Bengal. Chandramani was a tender hearted lady who always helped the poor. Kshudiram was devotee of Sri Rama. He disliked uttering lies.
Birth of the Divine child Gadadhar
In the year 1835, Kshudiram went on a pilgrimage to Gaya. He had an extraordinary dream there. Gadadhar, as Lord Vishnu in Gaya is called, appeared before him and said,” I shall be born as your son’’. In Kamarpukar, at the same time, Chandramani san brilliant waves of light streaming towards her from the Shiva image while she was worshipping in the temple. They both new that they were about to be blessed with a divine child. On the 18th of February, 1836, Chandramani gave birth to a beautiful, chubby baby boy. The devoted couple named him Gadadhar, after the Diety in Gaya.
Childhood days and Boyhood sports
Gadadhar was an attractive little boy. Just as Sri Krishna was the darling of Gokula, he was the darling of Kamarpukur. He was affectionally called ‘Gadai’. He was interesting in listening to tales and episodes from the ancient Puranas an mythology. In those days many of the scenes from epics and purnas were often enacted by the enthusiastic villagers. Young Gadadhar would watch carefully the poses, gestures and intonations of actors. Since he had a remarkable memory, he was able to repeat the dialogues and re-enact the scenes before his friends.
Though he was sent to school at the age of five, he did not show much interest in studies. He was more keen on studying the lives and deeds of the great spiritual man of the past. Later in life, this practically unlettered, unschooled, Gadadhar was to be admired, adorned and worshiped by great intellectuals and learned pandits. At the age of six or seven, he had his first spiritual experience.
Kshudiram died in 1843, Gadadhar kneely felt the loss of his father and became more meditative. Some time he used to go to the nearby cremation ground alone and practice spiritual disciplines there. Later he said, “these places (cremation grounds) are quite sacred and fit for meditation, because there lies the last vestige of human feet’’.
First vision of the Divine Mother
Silently and secretly they come into the world, like a flash of lightning, survey it, and in twinkling of an eye, disappear. Few see them, fever understand them, and very few follow their advice. This is the life-history of most great non-Prophets, seers, and incarnations- in all ages and in all climes. How can we understand them with our limited vision? The strong alone can understand strength it is not the barn-door foul but the elephant that understand the lion.
The life of Sri Rama Krishan took a new turn when he was engaged as a priest in the Dakshineswar where the Deity is worshiped as the Divine Mother of the Universe under the name of Kali. Seated before the graceful basalt image, he would often ask himself. “Is this image filled with the indwelling presence of God ? or is it more stone, devoid of life and spirits worshipped by countless devotees from time immemorial” ? He craved for the vision of God.
For hours he would sing the songs composed by seers of God. Tears, then, would flow continuously from his eyes. He would weep and pray “O Mother! where art thou? Reveal Thyself to me. He spent day and night in such agonising prayers one day he was so depressed and sad that he wept aloud,”Oh! Mother, it looks as if I am not to have the Divine vision. Why then should I live’’? So saying he tried to kill himself with the sword hanging in the shrine. Goodness gracious ! He fell down as if unconscious. He saw a huge radiant light approaching him. In the midst of that light he saw the all – powerful, all-knowing resplendent Mother Herself.
God intexicated State
After the vision it was not possible for Sri Rama Krishna to continue performing the worship in the temple. He spent more than two years in a God-intoxicated state. In 1859, he returned to Kamarpukur and lived with his mother. During this time, his mother arranged his marriage to Sarda, a very young girl from Jayrambati. After the marriage Sri Ramakrishna returned to Dakshineswar.
Once at Dakshineswar Sri Ramakrishna was caught up again in a spiritual tempost. He forgot his home, family, body and surroundings. He described his experiences during that period.
“An ordinary man couldnot have born a quarter of that tremendous fervour; it would have burnt him up. “Mother’’! I’d cry desperately. I felt I had to pull her in, as a fisherman pulls in fish with his dragnet. A prostitude walking the street would appear to me to be’Sita’’ going to meet her victorious husband. I had no sleep at all for six long years. My eyes lost the power of winkling’’.
“No sooner had I passed through one spiritual crisis than another took its place. It was like in the midst of a whrilwind. I could seldom keep hold of my cloth.
My hair became malted. Birds would perch on my head and peek at the grains of rice that had lodged there during the worship. Snakes would crawl over my motionless body but then, suddenly, I’d be filled with ecstasy. I saw that my body didn’t matter- it was of no importance, a mere trifle. Mother appeared to me and comforted me and freed me from my fear”.
In 1861, a nun called Bhairavi Brahmani came to Dakshineswar to initiate Sri Ramakrishna into the tantric disciplines. The Master practised sixty four methods of tantric and attained perfection through all of them. In 1864, Sri Ramakrishna was initiated into Sannyasa by Totapuri and attained nirvkalpa Smadhi, the highest nondualistic experience, in only three days.
After realising God in different religions as well as in different sects of Hinduism, Sri Ramakrshna proclaimed. “As many faiths, so many paths’’. In this present age, Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings are the antidote to nerrowness, bigotry, fanaticism and intolerance towards different religions. He said : “It is not good to feel that one’s own religion alone is true and all others are false. God is one only, and not two. Different people call on him by different names.
Among those who came to the saint was a young man who subsequently became world famous as Swami Vivekananda.
Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
God-men do not write about themselves. They are content to live their great lives. Sri Ramakrishna did not like publicity at all. He specially for bade one of his disciples to write his biography during his life time. He said, “The power and ideas which are with in this body will automatically spread all over in the course of time. Hundreds of Himalayas will not be able to suppress that power.’’
The master used to say :”God is in all men, but all men are not in God, that is the reason why they suffer:. “The kite and vulture soar high up in the air, but all the time their eyes are fixed on charnel pits in search of putrid carcasses. The mind of the so-called learned scholars is attached to the things of the world, hence it is that they cannot acquire true knowledge. What good the reading of a vast number of sacred books do them ?
“God alone is the Doer, and we are all his instruments. Faith can achieve miracles while vanity or egotism brings about the destruction of man. Cry unto the Lord with a longing and yearning heart, and then you shall see Him. People would shed a jug ful of tears for the sake of their wife and children! But who weeps for the Lord.”?
Farewell to the World
The omnipresent God of the Universe cannot be seen until he is reflected by these ‘giant lamps’ of the earth- the Prophets, the Man-Gods, the Incarnations, the embodiment of God. These are the sign-posts here and there, which points to the march of humanity; these are verily gigantic, their shadow covering the earth. These can transmit spirituality with a touch with a mere wish.
Sri Ramakrishna can raise workers from the dust by hundreds and by thousands. It is a glory and privilege that we are allowed to work at all under Him. He shed his mortal coil on August 16, 1886. The man himself was no more, His spirit had departed to travel along the path of collective life in the veins of humanity.
(The author is the translator of , “The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’’ into Urdu titled as “Sri Ramakrishna Ke Akwal-E-Zarin’’. )
