Innamburan Pages: 16 August 1886

Innamburan Pages: 16 August 1886




Ramakrishna in bhava samadhi at the house of Keshab Chandra Sen.

Dr. Alexis Carrell, the Nobel Laureate, mused over ' Man, the Unknowable'  in his classic, Man, the Unknown. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was/is/ will ever be one such rare ' Unknowable'. He was born in an orthodox Hindu Brahmin Priestly family. It is said that his parents had visions about his intense devotion to God. He used to fall into trances as a boy. He was made to marry a five-year old girl, Sarada; he was already leading a monastic life and took to  worshipping her as Mother Goddess.

A priest at the Dakhineswher Kali Temple from 1856, he was initiated into the mysteries of Tantric rites by Bhairavi Brahmani five years later. He came under the influence of the Vaishnavite Acharya Jatadhari in 1864, and  took up the practise of vātsalya bhāva. The very next year, Toto Puri, the Advaintin initiated him into Sannyasa. The very next year

Govinda Roy, a Hindu guru who practised Sufism, initiated Ramakrishna into Islam. By 1873 he began to practise Christianity also and the Bible was read to him. All this in a life span of fifty years!

Bhakthi is much more than devotion and calls for an immersive submergence into the Godhead -  vātsalya bhāva,dāsya bhāva and so on. His Sadhana, it is said, elevated his bhavamukha viz. the Bliss. 

I carry a pocket book of his parables and one therefrom translates as under: "It is well nigh impossible to explain  the husband-wife relationship to a little boy. It is as difficult to explain the Bliss of Transcendence to one deeply attached to the material world."

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's last days were poignant. he suffered unbearable pain -cancer.Narendra, whom he anointed as Svami Vivekananda, was all alone by his bedside, one day. Waking up with tears in his after after a spell of Samadhi, Sri Ramakrishna told him, "Today I have given you my all and I am now only a poor fakir, possessing nothing. By this power you will do immense good in the world, and not until it is accomplished will you return."  Narendra had his own misgivings on contemplation and said to himself, "If in the midst of this racking physical pain he declares his Godhead, then only shall I accept him as an Incarnation of God." The Master smiled. Gathering his remaining strength, he distinctly said, "He who was Rama and Krishna is now, in this body, Ramakrishna — but not in your Vedantic sense." Narendra was stricken with shame. Henceforth the Master lived in the disciple. 

 Reference: https://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/gospel/introduction/last_days.htm