Apostle of peace

THE SECOND half of the 19th Century saw the appearance of several spiritual leaders, who inspired and galvanised the Indian mind with new life and energy. Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda belong to that category. Their activity was governed by love and wisdom. Their main concern was to elevate human beings to higher levels of thought and conduct.

While expounding a passage from William Wordsworth's 'The Excursion' (a passage describing a state of spiritual ecstasy), Dr. William Hastie of the Scottish Church College, Calcutta, said "Such an experience is the result of purity of mind and concentration on some object. I have seen only one person who experienced this state of mind and he is Ramakrishna Paramahamsa of Dakshineswar. You can understand this, if you go and see him."

Narendra (as Swami Vivekananda was known earlier) was electrified by the passage and Dr. Hastie's exposition.

The first meeting with Sri Ramakrishna in November 1881, effected a seachange in Narendra. To his question whether he had seen God, Sri Ramakrishna said "Yes, I have seen God. I see Him as I see you here, only more clearly. God can be seen. One can talk to Him. But who cares for God? People shed torrents of tears for their wives, children, wealth and poverty. But who cries for the vision of God? If one cries sincerely for God, one can surely see Him."

It was an encounter of two antithetical minds. The scientific spirit of the modern age came face to face with the spiritual tradition in India. Sri Ramakrishna required an instrument, a voice to proclaim his message of Universal Religion, based not on dogma and ritual, but on love, compassion, tolerance and service.

And he found his spiritual alter ego in Narendra, who emerged a new personality to fulfil his Master's mission.

Sri Ramakrishna did not confine himself to spirituality, but stepped out of it and reckoned with the realities of life in a context in which Western thought and ways of life were sweeping India and threatening to shake the Indian mind out of its traditional moorings. He did not seek to disturb any faith, nor did he prescribe do's and dont's. Formal education and book learning are no qualification or prerequisites for spiritual experience or illumination. Scholarship cannot be equated with spiritual attainment.

Sri Ramakrishna had only the bare minimum formal education. It did not proceed beyond the second standard. By profession, he was a temple priest. But he spoke with emphasis and conviction, of matters spiritual based on his own experiences. His heart pulsated with compassion for the poor and the downtrodden.

True religion fulfils itself, when it answers social needs. He warned against two serious diseases afflicting mankind - Kama (lust) and Kanchana (gold). He did not decry the fulfilment of desire, but only said that it should be regulated within the parameters of Dharma - the moral law. "The world is too much with us," said Wordsworth. Human beings should not allow themselves to be bogged down by materialism.

"Form character, earn spirituality and the results will come of themselves. When a lotus blooms, the bees come by themselves. Let the lotus of character be full blown, and the results will follow" (Sri Ramakrishna).

The message of harmony, (harmony of religions and within oneself) charity and love is his prescription for the spiritual malady the world is suffering from, today.

It is a message relevant for all time. For souls battered in the rough and tumble of life, the Ramakrishna Mutt is a haven of peace, sanctity and divinity.

S. JAGADISAN

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