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Life & Teachings of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

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Life & Teachings of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa LIFE & TEACHINGS OF RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA Ques 1 “Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s life is a story of religion in practice; and it enables us to see God face to face; he was a living embodiment of Godliness & Divinity.” Who said this? Ans 1 Mahatma Gandhi. Ques 2 What is the meaning of the term Paramahamsa? Ans 2 Paramahamsa - The one who with his discriminatory vision discerns the soul apart from and distinct within the body, like the swan which is able to separate the milk from water and drink and enjoy the milk alone. Ques 3 Name Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s parents. Ans 3 Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s parents were a pious Brahmin couple, Khudiram Chattopadhyaya and his wife Chandramani. Ques 4 Answer the following questions: a) Name the village where Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s family originally lived and where did they eventually settle? b) Why did they have to move away from their ancestral village? Ans 4 a) Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s family originally lived in the village of Derepore, District Hoogly in Bengal. They eventually settled at a neighbouring village called Kamarpukur. b) Ramakrishna’s father Khudiram was once called upon by the local Zamindar to give false evidence in support of a case which the Zamindar brought against one of his tenants. The righteous Khudiram refused to do this which incurred the wrath of the unscrupulous Zamindar who falsely involved him in a prosecution, alleging that Khudiram owed him a huge sum of money. He also managed to produce false witnesses to support his fabricated allegation and thus annexed Khudiram’s lands. As a result, Khudiram was forced to leave his ancestral village and find a new home in a neighbouring village, Kamarpukur. Ques 5 Fill in the blanks: a) Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s family deity was _____________ b) One day, while returning from a neighbouring village, Khudiram came into possession of the ___________ of his tutelary deity. Ans 5 a) Sri Ramachandra (Raghuvir). b) Emblem. SRI SATHYA SAI BALVIKAS, TAMILNADU 1 www.sssbalvikastn.org Ques 6 Name Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s elder brothers. Ans 6 Ramkumar and Rameshwar. Ques 7 What strange vision did Ramakrishna’s mother have before his birth? Ans 7 Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s mother Chandra Devi was having lots of strange visions at Kamarpukur. One of those visions was: She was standing along with Dhani(the village blacksmith woman) before the Shiva temple adjacent to her house, and she saw a bright beam of divine effulgence dart from the image of Lord Shiva and enter her body. Ques 8 What was Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s original name and give his date of birth. Ans 8 Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s original name was Gadadhar (named after the God of Gaya) and he was born during the early hours of the morning on 18th February 1836. Ques 9 When did Ramakrishna Paramahamsa first lose his consciousness? Ans 9 One day in the month of Ashadha, when Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was six or seven years old, he was walking along a narrow path separating the paddy field, eating puffed rice from a basket. Looking up at the sky he saw a beautiful sombre thunder cloud. As it spread rapidly enveloping the entire horizon, a flock of snow white cranes flew overhead in front of it. This beautiful contrast sent his mind wandering off to far-off regions, lost to outward senses and he fell down. His puffed rice got scattered in different directions. That was the first time that Ramakrishna Paramahamsa completely lost consciousness in ecstasy. Ques 10 Fill in the blank: Ramakrishna fell into a deep trance at the sight of his own make up as ______, while acting in a drama. Ans 10 Lord Siva. Ques 11 What was enough to trigger Ramakrishna off into a trance? Ans 11 A loving thought of God or a glimpse of beauty of nature revealing the handiwork of God was enough to trigger Ramakrishna off into a trance. Ques 12 Answer the following questions: a)After his father’s death what was the promise Ramakrishna gave to his mother? b)What was the incident that prompted his mother to extract such a promise? SRI SATHYA SAI BALVIKAS, TAMILNADU 2 www.sssbalvikastn.org Ans 12 a) Ramakrishna Paramahamsa promised his mother that he would not take to sanyasa and that he would not leave home without her permission. b) One day his mother Chandra devi was startled to find Gadadhar with his whole body smeared with ashes and wearing saffron coloured cloth around his waist, with a long stick in one hand and Kamandalu in another, looking like a real Bala sanyasi. It was then that Chandradevi, who was filled with anxiety and fear, extracted a promise from Gadadhar that he would not take to sanyasa and that he would not leave home without her permission. Ques 13 How old was Ramakrishna Paramahamsa when he was given Gayatri Upadesh? What happened on that occasion? (OR) How did Ramakrishna Paramahamsa fulfill the promise given by him to Dhani? Ans 13 When Gadadhar was nine years old, he was invested with the holy thread, ‘Gayatri Upadesh’. With this, a man becomes reborn into spiritual life and becomes a Brahmin, which means, that he begins on the path towards realization of Brahman. At the time of the thread ceremony, instead of taking his first alms, Bhiksha, from his mother as per tradition, he accepted it from Dhani, the Sudra Blacksmith woman who had tended him with great love during his infancy. Having no child of her own, she used to love him as her own son. Gadadhar wanted to show his love towards her and give her joy, although the alms taken from her meant contravention of the time-honoured custom in a Brahmin family. True love and devotion were more important to him than social conventions. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa thus conveyed the message to the people around him that “Caste does not lie in birth but in the qualities of the heart” Ques 14 What was Gadadhar’s hobby during his childhood? Ans 14 Apart from his spiritual obsession, Gadadhar’s hobby was to enact dramas, with his friends, on Puranic themes, at the neighbouring mango orchard on the outskirts of his village. Ques 15a Which role did Ramakrishna Paramahamsa frequently play in the dramas? Ques 15b What happened on such occasions? Ans 15a Lord Krishna. Ans 15b Often overwhelmed with the emotion and sentiment associated with the Puranic themes of the dramas enacted, Ramakrishna would frequently fall into trances. Ques 16 How did Ramakrishna Paramahamsa explain the trances that he fell into, whenever he and his friends enacted puranic dramas in the mango orchards of his village? Ans 16 Whenever Ramakrishna Paramahamsa fell into trances, he would explain about his experiences to his friends as: “When I intensively think of God in my heart, I feel SRI SATHYA SAI BALVIKAS, TAMILNADU 3 www.sssbalvikastn.org lose my outward consciousness and feel immen Ques 17 Complete the sentence: Whenever Ramakrishna Paramahamsa went into a trance, his family members thought that he was ________. Ans 17 suffering from an epileptic disease. Ques 18 What did Ramkumar do, after he shifted from his hometown to Calcutta? Ans 18 Ramkumar shifted to Calcutta where he started a Sanskrit school in the central part of the city as he needed to take care of the financial difficulties they were facing back at the village. Ques 19 For two reasons Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was asked to join his brother Ramkumar at Calcutta. What are they? Ans 19 Ramkumar wanted Ramakrishna Paramahamsa to join him because: . Ramkumar needed assistance to cope with the growing work at school and . He was hoping that he would be able to guide Ramakrishna Paramahamsa in his studies and put him back on the right track. Ques 20 At Calcutta what did Ramakrishna Paramahamsa do? Ans 20 At Calcutta, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa did not take any interest in studies. He performed pujas as a priest in many houses, which he was entrusted with by his brother. Ques 21 Who said this to whom and why? “Brother what shall I do with a mere bread winning education? I would rather acquire that wisdom which will illumine my heart and with which I will be satisfied forever.” Ans 21 Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said this to Ramkumar since the latter admonished Ramakrishna Paramahamsa for not taking his studies seriously. Ques 22 When and where was the temple of Dakshineshwar built and who built the temple? Ans 22 The temple at Dakshineshwar was built in 1847 on the eastern bank of Ganga, about 4 miles north of Calcutta. It was built by a rich widow called Rani Rasmani. Ques 23 Name the deities installed in the Dakshineshwar temple built by Rani Rasmani. SRI SATHYA SAI BALVIKAS, TAMILNADU 4 www.sssbalvikastn.org Ans 23 Kali, Radha, Krishna and Siva (12 Shiva shrines) Ques 24 Who was Mathur Babu and what did he persuade Ramakrishna to do? Ans 24 Mathura Nath Biswas (Mathur Babu) the son-in-law of Rani Rasmani, persuaded Ramakrishna Paramahamsa to take charge of decorating the image of Kali at the Dakshineshwar temple, with flowers, leaves and sandal paste in the morning and with costly jewellery and clothes in the evening. Ques 25 Answer the following questions: When one leg of the image of Lord Krishna at the Radha Krishna temple at Dakshineshwar was accidentally broken, a) What was the advice given by the pundits? b) What was Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s suggestion? Ans 25 a) The pundits advised that the idol of Lord Krishna be thrown away in the Ganga and a new one be installed in its place, since tradition did not permit the worship of a broken idol.
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