Ramakrishna

From a historical point of view, in India more attention is paid to the teachings of saints and insufficient attention is paid to dates and details. And yet, in the case of Sri Ramakrishna, we have genuine descriptions of his life and the time in which he lived. This was made possible due to the fact that many of his students had a good education and a strong desire to present only facts that could be verified by numerous sources. The main merit of collecting and recording such facts belongs to Swami Saradananda , a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. He wrote an authoritative biography called Sri Ramakrishna Lilaprasanga, filtering the facts from the legends and stories that grew around Sri Ramakrishna in order to explain the meaning of his teachings and his appearance in this world. There are two options for translating his book into English: the first one called Swami Jagadananda Sri Ramakrishna The Great Master and the new one called Swami Chetanananda Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play

However, Sri Ramakrishna’s most famous teaching is Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, written in Bengali by Mahendranath Gupta (Sri M.), in the English translation of Swami Nikhilananda The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna , partially translated into Russian as the Proclamation of Sri Ramakrishna .

Childhood

On February 18, 1836 , the youngest son Gadadhar Chatterjee was born to the poor Brahmin couple Khudiram and Chandramani in the village of Kamarpukur, who would later be called Ramakrishna (according to recent studies, the name Ramakrishna was given to him in accordance with family tradition). His parents were poor and had difficulty making ends meet. In the village, he was a universal favorite. Over the years, the love of the villagers for Ramakrishna grew. He was an artistically gifted boy - he could sing, dance, participated in performances, cut out figures of gods; his witty jokes brought joy to people. But he was not very willing to study at school, he said that schooling does not give him the knowledge to which he aspires, but only teaches him how to make money. He preferred conversations with peers in conversations with wanderers who, making a pilgrimage to the holy city of Puri , often stopped in his village along the way. He enthusiastically and carefully listened to their conversations on spiritual topics, served them.

When the time came for putting on the sacred cord ( Upanayana , a ceremony performed on the boys from the Brahmin caste), a conflict occurred between Ramakrishna and his adult relatives. He insisted on the need to fulfill the promise he made to one of the women of the village - to take food from her hands during the ceremony, despite the fact that she was a sudra . This was a violation of tradition. But Ramakrishna was firm in his decision. He said: “How will I be a brahmana if I do not keep my promise?” And in the end, the adults had to give in to the will of the boy.

Meanwhile, after the death of his father, the family financial situation worsened every day. Ramkumar, the elder brother of Ramakrishna, ran a small Sanskrit school in northern Calcutta . Ramkumar brought Ramakrishna to Calcutta, hoping that he could teach him Sanskrit. He also suggested that Ramakrishna would be able to earn some money for the family, helping him fulfill his duties as a priest.

Taking Priestly Responsibilities and Starting Spiritual Practice

At this time, Rani Rasmani, a wealthy woman, but not a brahmin, founded a large temple complex in Dakshineshwar , in the northern suburbs of Calcutta . She was looking for a suitable priest for the Kali temple, but the brahmanas refused to serve in it. Someone advised Rasmani to offer this place to Ramkumaru. And he, subject to circumstances, accepted this offer. A few days later, after his brother, Gadadhar (Ramakrishna) arrived in Dakshineswar. A few years later, due to poor health, Ramkumar was forced to leave the service in the temple and Gadadhar had to accept the duties of a priest. When Gadadhar began to worship Mother Kali , he began to ask himself whether he worshiped a piece of stone or a living goddess. If he worshiped the living Goddess, why doesn’t she react to his worship? He prayed to her with all his heart, and she did not answer him. This haunted him. Or is he not at all worthy of Mother Kali giving him a sign that she is pleased with him? But there were such believers as Ramprasad, whom she generously endowed with her grace. Why is this grace not spilled on him? Why is she so cruel to him? And every evening he exclaimed: “Oh Mother, another day passed and you did not come to me. Why are you so cruel? ”Sometimes, with blood-bitten lips, he rolled in despair on the ground. People thought that Ramakrishna mourned the death of his mother. The day came when his impatience became so excruciating that he decided to commit suicide. He tore his sword from the wall and was ready to inflict a mortal blow. What happened then, Ramakrishna describes this: “I saw the ocean of the Spirit, infinite, shining. No matter where I looked, huge luminous waves rose everywhere ... They crashed over me, they swallowed me. I was choking. I lost consciousness and fell. An ocean of unspeakable joy rolled its waves around me. And in the very depths of my being, I felt the presence of the Divine Mother. ”

Marriage

Soon, Ramakrishna began to experience ever longer periods of ecstasy, during which he completely ceased to be aware of the reality surrounding him. He could no longer take care of himself and, of course, could not fulfill the duties of a priest. Some believed that he was completely crazy, others thought that he was suffering from hysterical seizures. Rumors of Ramakrishna’s illness reached his village. Naturally, his mother was very alarmed and insisted that Ramakrishna return home. He obeyed. After observing the behavior of her son, Chandramani came to the conclusion that Ramakrishna is healthy. But still, the neighbors advised her to marry her son - marriage could have a beneficial effect on him. Mother worried that her son would reject her offer. After listening to his mother, he did not object to her, but reacted to the proposal with interest. He even indicated where he was to find the bride. This girl was Sarada, the daughter of Ramchandra Mukherjee, from the neighboring village of Jairambati. The wedding took place; Ramakrishna at that time was 24 years old, Sarada was 7 years old. She was the first student of Sri Ramakrishna. He taught her everything that he had learned from various gurus. It is believed that she successfully completed every religious practice as quickly as Sri Ramakrishna himself. Impressed by her spiritual potential, he began to consider her as the Mother of the Universe herself and performed Puja (worship) of her, considering Sarada as the real Tripura Sundari Devi. He said: "I see you as my own mother and as the Mother who is in the temple." Ramakrishna convinced Sarada Devi that she was not only the mother of his young students, but also of all mankind. At first, Sarada Devi was shy of this mission, but gradually began to fulfill it, putting her whole soul into it. People devoted to their teachings believe that her renunciation was an amazing quality that she shared with her husband equally, if not more than him. It is believed that the true nature of their relationships and kinship is beyond the understanding of ordinary minds. Sri Ramakrishna, after constant close contact with her, came to the conclusion that her attitude to him was exclusively spiritual. Their followers are convinced that, despite the fact that they lived together day and night, no other thoughts besides the divine presence arose in their minds. The description of such continuous divine relations between two souls of the opposite kind is unique in the history of religions, and is not known in any of the past hagiographies. After Sri Ramakrishna passed away, Sarada Devi herself became a religious teacher.

Continuation of Spiritual Practice

After arriving in Dakshineswar, Ramakrishna again embarked on spiritual insight experiments. And whenever he wished, Mother Kali appeared to him, but he began to ask for more. He asked Mother to show him other ways of understanding Her. Later, Ramakrishna will say: "I had the opportunity to go through different paths of understanding God . " As if having heard the prayer of Ramakrishna, one by one in his life teachers appear to lead him with their own way of knowledge. Among the teachers was the wandering nun Bhairavi, a follower of the tantric teachings. She possessed not only profound yogic and tantric knowledge, but also had great practical religious experience. Step by step they moved through knowledge. And Bhairavi was amazed by the ease and speed with which her student mastered new knowledge. Another teacher who had a great influence on the life of Ramakrishna was Tota Puri, a wandering ascetic from the monastic order, commonly called the naga (from nanga - naked, naked). He was a strict Advista who did not recognize the world around him as reality. For Tota Puri, the only reality was Brahman - the Higher Self. Tota Puri was struck by the young man’s fortitude. He said that he would introduce him to the philosophy of nonduality ( Advaita ) and would ordain him to the monastic rank. And Ramakrishna began to learn nonduality from Thota Puri. Learning can be considered completed when the student realized his true Nature as a manifestation of the Supreme Being. This awareness only occurs during a transcendental experience known as Nirvikalpa Samadhi. This experience reveals the nature of the unity of all that exists, it gives the understanding that everything - man, animals, and plants, the whole universe - are one, and their nature is Being-Consciousness-Bliss. Ramakrishna plunged into the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi and stayed there for three days and three nights. Tota Puri was astounded. He himself achieved such a state only after forty years of persistent efforts, and his student achieved success on the first try. And, a miracle of miracles - he was in this state for three days and three nights, showing no signs of life. However, the spiritual quest of Ramakrishna did not stop there. He wanted to try everything. And no matter what the way the holy people went to God - wide or narrow, straight or winding - he wanted to go all of them, he wanted to experience them all. And every time Ramakrishna needed a teacher in this search, he came. Thus, he passed through himself various forms of religious experience from fetishism to nonduality. As his contemporaries said after the departure of Thota Puri, Ramakrishna remained for six months in a state of samadhi .

Subsequent Life

Gradually, the name of Ramakrishna became known in the circles of the Calcutta intelligentsia: like a magnet, he began to attract true seekers of God - some came to see him, others he visited. He taught the basic principles of religions unceasingly for fifteen years through parables, metaphors, songs, and most of all by the example of his own life. In 1885, he developed throat cancer . Ramakrishna died on August 16, 1886 in a garden house in the northern suburbs of Calcutta, Kossipur. He left behind a group of 16 faithful young students headed by a famous religious figure and speaker, Swami Vivekananda , as well as many followers from all over the world.

Teachings

Sri Ramakrishna emphasized that God-realization is the ultimate goal of all living entities. Consequently, for him, religion served as a means to an end. The mystical realization of Sri Ramakrishna, classified by the Hindu tradition as nirvikalpa samadhi (literally, “constant meditation”, considered immersion in an all-encompassing consciousness), led him to believe that different religions would be different ways to achieve absolute reality and that ultimate reality could never be expressed in human concepts. This is consistent with the statement of the Rig Veda , which states that "The truth is one, but the sages call it by different names." As a result of this opinion, Sri Ramakrishna actually spent various periods of his life practicing his own understanding of Islam, Christianity and various yogic and tantric directions within Hinduism.

Followers of Sri Ramakrishna believe that the realization of Sri Ramakrishna nirvikalpa samadhi also led him to understand the two sides of maya (illusion), which he referred to as avidyamaya and vidyamaya: He explained that avidyamaya represents the dark forces of consciousness (for example : sensual desires, base passions, greed, lust and cruelty) that keep the world system on the lower planes of consciousness. These forces are responsible for capturing a person in the trap of the cycles of birth and death, they must be fought and they must be defeated. Vidyamaya, on the other hand, represents higher powers of creation (for example: spiritual virtues, nobility, kindness, chastity, love and devotion) that elevates people to higher planes of consciousness. With the help of vidyamaya, he said, devotees can free themselves from avidyamaya and achieve their ultimate goal by becoming mayatita, that is, free from maya.

The proclamation of Sri Ramakrishna's idea of ​​“yatra jiv tatra Shiv” (where there is a living being, there is Shiva ) came out of his perception of reality from the point of view of advaita-vedanta. This understanding led him to teach his disciples: “Jiva dayana, Shiv jyan jiva seva” (not pity for sentient beings, but service to sentient beings like Shiva himself). This attitude is significantly different from the “sentimental pantheism” of Francis of Assisi .

Although Sri Ramakrishna was illiterate, he was able to understand complex philosophical ideas. According to his vision, our universe and many other universes (Brahmanda) are just bubbles that arise on the surface of the higher ocean of intelligence (Brahman).

Key Concepts in Sri Ramakrishna's Teaching

• Awareness of God is the highest goal of human life, because only this can bring man the highest joy and peace
• God is One, He is both personal and impersonal at the same time and is known by different names in different religions
• It is possible to realize God in various ways that can be learned from world religions.
• All religions are true as far as they lead to the realization of the Absolute Truth.
• Purity of mind, chastity - the main condition for the realization of God, but God's mercy can save even a hopeless sinner
• Along with faith in God, a positive attitude towards life is needed instead of indulging in self-condemnation or gloom.
• God lives in all people as Supreme Self, therefore, all people need to be respected.

One of the descriptions of his life and teachings was made by his student, Mahendranath Gupta, simply known as “M”, in the Bengali language of Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita. The book clearly presents the dialogue style of Sri Ramakrishna, his generous use of metaphors and parables, his characteristic wit and his frequent use of dialectisms and idioms of the Bengali language.

Like Sankaracharya, who did this more than a thousand years ago, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa revived Hinduism, which in the nineteenth century was full of excessive ritualism and prejudice and helped him better respond to the challenge posed by Islam, Christianity and modern materialistic civilization. However, unlike Shankaracharya, Sri Ramakrishna developed ideas about a consciousness that descends into the phenomenal world after he tested the state of samadhi, which he called "Vijnana." In addition to asserting the highest loyalty of Advaita Vedanta, he also proclaimed that he accepts both the “Thread” Nitya (Eternal Substrate) and the “Leela” Leela (literally a game indicating dynamic Phenomenal Reality) as aspects of Brahman alone.

The idea of ​​the descent of consciousness may indicate the influence of the ideas of Bhakti and some schools of Shaktism on Sri Ramakrishna's beliefs. This idea will later influence Sri Aurobindo’s views on the Divine Life on earth.

Ramakrishna was born during a public coup in Bengal in particular and in India in general. The religious movement associated with his name was an important vector that determined the direction of development of Hinduism and Indian national consciousness in subsequent years. В Индии повсеместно признана заслуга Рамакришны в консолидации индуизма, в устранении возникших за тысячелетия внутренних противоречий, в превращении его в действенную гармоничную систему, соединившую традиции и устремление в будущее.

…на индуизм

Возрождение индуизма в Индии в 19-м столетии, можно сказать, было побуждено его жизнью и деятельностью. Хотя Брахмо Самадж и Арья Самадж предшествовали Миссии Рамакришны, их влияние было ограничено на более широком уровне. С возникновением Миссии, тем не менее, ситуация изменилась совершенно. Миссия Рамакришны была основана самим Шри Рамакришной, когда он раздал охряные одеяния символизирующие отречение своим прямым ученикам. Это подтвердил Свами Вивекананда когда сказал, что без милости Тхакура (Шри Рамакришны) всё это было бы невозможно. Большинство последователей Шри Рамакришны верят, что Свами Вивекананда действовал как посланец Шри Рамакришны на Западе и, следовательно, являлся инструментом в выполнении духовной миссии их учителя.

В 19-е столетии индуизм встретил огромный интеллектуальный вызов, в одинаковой степени как от западной культуры, так и от самих индийцев. Ответ на это был различен, колеблясь в широком диапазоне от движения Молодая Бенгалия, осуждавшего индуизм и принявшего христианство или атеизм, до движения Брахмо Самадж, которое придерживалось первенства индуизма, и стойкого индусского национализма Банкима Чандры Чаттерджи. Влияние Шри Рамакришны было решающим в течение этого периода для оживления индуизма традиционного типа, и может быть сравнимо с таким же вкладом Шри Чайтаньи сделанным несколькими столетиями раньше, когда индуизм в Бенгалии был под аналогичным давлением от растущего влияния ислама.

Трудно дать исчерпывающее описание влияния Шри Рамакришны на индуизм из-за его многогранности, но некоторые важные моменты, характеризующие его вклад в развитие современного индуизма, тем не менее, могут быть представлены. В его поклонении образу Матери Кали, он вопрошает о сути поклонения идолу — поклоняется он куску камня или живой Богине, и почему она не реагирует на его молитвы. Он получает опытное подтверждение, повторившееся несколько раз, которое показывает ему, что она жива и существует. Для многих почитавших его эти откровения укрепили многовековые традиции, которые были в центре внимания в то время. Шри Рамакришна также предложил всеохватывающую версию религии, объявив «Джато мот тато пот» — столько путей". В переводе с бенгальского языка это приблизительно означает: «Каждое мнение даёт путь».

…на индийский национализм

Хотя и было весьма косвенным, достойно внимания влияние Шри Рамакришны на растущий в то время индийский национализм. Множество интеллигентов того времени уважали и регулярно посещали его, хотя и не все из них обязательно соглашались с ним в религиозных вопросах. Многочисленные лидеры и члены Брахмо Самаджа также уважали его. Несмотря на то, что некоторые из них приняли его понимание индуизма, то, что многие другие не приняли это, показывает, что они обнаружили в его поучениях возможности для упрочнения национальной самобытности перед лицом колониального противника, который интеллектуально подрывал индийскую цивилизацию.

Вивекананда и Рамакришна Матх и Миссия Рамакришны

Важнейшим вкладом Шри Рамакришны в мировую религиозную культуру является вдохновленные им и основанные Свами Вивеканандой религиозно-общественные организации — монашеский Орден Рамакришны (Рамакришна Матх / Ramakrishna Math) и Миссия Рамакришны (Ramakrishna Mission). Основанные больше столетия назад эти две организации имеют единое руководство со штаб-квартирой в Белуре недалеко от Калькутты и действуют в соответствии со сформулированным их основателем девизом: «Атмано мокшартхам джагаддхитая ча» — «Для личного освобождения и на благо мира». В то время как монастырь занят больше духовной и религиозно-просветительской деятельностью, миссия занята благотворительной, научно-просветительской, образовательной и другой деятельностью. Среди многочисленных религиозно-общественных и благотворительных организаций Индии Рамакришна Матх и Миссия Рамакришны пользуются особым авторитетом и уважением.

• Знание ведет к единству, а неведение — к различию.
• Ночью на небе видно много звёзд, но они исчезают, когда восходит солнце. Можно ли сказать, что днём на небе звёзд нет? Так что, о человек, если не видишь Бога в дни своего неведения, не говори, что Бога нет.
• Веды, Тантры, Пураны, все священные книги осквернены, ибо вышли изо рта человеческого и истрепаны от частого повторения человеческим языком; они как пища, которую человек пожевал и выплюнул. Но нельзя подобным же образом осквернить Брахман, или Абсолют, ибо речь человеческая бессильна Его выразить.
• Бог — во всех людях, но не все люди в Боге. Вот почему они страдают.
• Истинно религиозный человек должен думать, что другие религии — тоже пути, ведущие к Истине. Мы должны всегда сохранять почтительное отношение к другим религиям.
• Пока не станешь простым как ребёнок, не сможешь достичь Божественного просветления. Отбрось тщеславие обретенного тобой мирского знания и знай, что оно бесполезно в обители высшей Истины. Будь прост как дитя, и лишь тогда ты достигнешь знания Истины.

На английском языке

На русском языке

• Ромен Роллан , «Жизнь Рамакришны» ISBN 5-250-01705-3
• Кристофер Ишервуд , «Рамакришна и его ученики» ISBN 5-8062-0161-9
• Рерих Н. К. Шри Рамакришна // Душа народов. Москва, Международный Центр Рерихов , 1995—104 с.
• Рамакришна / Фаликов Б. З. // Пустырник — Румчерод. — М. : Большая российская энциклопедия, 2015. — С. 206. — ( Большая российская энциклопедия : [в 35 т.] / гл. ред. Ю. С. Осипов ; 2004—2017, т. 28). — ISBN 978-5-85270-365-1 .

• Сайт штаб-квартиры монашеского Ордена и Миссии Рамакришны в Белур Матхе, Западная Бенгалия, Индия
• Страницы на русском языке веб-сайта штаб-квартиры монашеского Ордена и Миссии Рамакришны в Белур Матхе, Западная Бенгалия, Индия
• Сайт Общества Рамакришны — Центра Веданты (Отделение Миссии Рамакришны в России)