DOCSLIB.ORG

Sri Ramakrishna with Devotees

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Sri Ramakrishna with Devotees Section I Sri Ramakrishna with Devotees Chapter I Sri Ramakrishna dances with devotees in the joy of ecstatic love at Balaram’s house It is about 8 or 9 p.m., seven days after the Dolayatra. Thakur is surrounded by Ram, Manomohan, Rakhal, Nityagopal and other devotees. They are all inebriated with chanting the name of God. Some of the devotees are in a state of ecstasy. In such a state, Nityagopal’s chest has turned red. When they all sit down, M. salutes Thakur. He sees that Rakhal is lying down overwhelmed with ecstasy and unaware of the outside world. Thakur, putting his hand on Rakhal’s chest, says, “Peace, peace.” It is the second time Rakhal has experienced ecstasy. He lives with his father in Calcutta and goes to Dakshineswar from time to time to visit Thakur. At the present time he is a student in Vidyasagar’s school in Shyampukur. Thakur had said to M. in Dakshineswar, “I will visit Balaram’s house in Calcutta. Please go there.” That is why M. has come to see him. It is Saturday, 11 March 1882, 28th of Falgun, the seventh day of the dark fortnight of Chaitra. Thakur has come to Balaram’s house at his invitation. The devotees sit for prasad on the verandah while Balaram stands humbly to serve them. He doesn’t act like the master of the house. 2 Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita – V, Section I M. has only recently begun to visit Sri Ramakrishna. He has not yet talked to the devotees, only with Narendra at Dakshineswar. Harmony of religions A few days later, Sri Ramakrishna had been sitting absorbed on the steps of the Shiva temples. It was about four or five o’clock. M. was seated near him. A short while ago, Thakur had rested on his bedspread on the floor in his room. Nobody was yet living there to attend to his needs and he has been greatly inconvenienced since Hriday’s departure. When M. came from Calcutta to see him, he talked to him while he walked to the Shiva temples. Sitting on a step of the Shiva temple opposite the temple of Sri Radhakanta, Thakur suddenly went into ecstasy at the sight of the temple. He begins to talk to the Mother of the Universe. He says, “Mother, everybody says his watch gives the correct time. Christians, Brahmos, Hindus, Muslims, all of them say, ‘Only our religion is true.’ But Mother, nobody’s watch is right. Who can really know You? But if someone calls on You with a longing heart, You can be reached, by Your grace, by any path. Mother, how do Christians call on You in church? Please show me once. But Mother, what will people say if I enter a Church? Maybe it will result in a hullabaloo; maybe I won’t be allowed to enter the Kali temple again. So please let me see from the door of the church.” 11 March – 2 April 1882 3 Thakur enjoys devotional music with devotees – love of Rakhal – ‘the wine of divine love’ On another day [in March 1882] Thakur is sitting on the smaller cot in his room. He is a picture of joy with a smiling face. M. comes in with Kalikrishna. 1 Kalikrishna did not know where he was being taken by his friend. The friend [M.] had only said to him, “Come with me if you want to go to a grog shop. There’s a huge pitcher of wine there.” When they reached Thakur and M. had saluted him, he told Thakur everything he had said to his friend. Thakur laughs. He says, “The bliss of devotional music and the bliss of Brahman are wine indeed – the wine of love for God. The aim of life is to develop intense love of God. Indeed, love for God is the essence. It is extremely difficult to know God through knowledge and reasoning.” Saying this, Thakur begins to sing: Who can know what Kali is? Even the six philosophies cannot reveal Her. The yogi meditates on Her from the Muladhara to the Sahasrara, As She sports with Kala – two swans amid a wilderness of lotuses. Like Om, the source of all, Kali is the inner self of the yogi who delights in the Self. She dwells in every living creature, of Her own will and just as She pleases. 1. Kalikrishna later became the main professor of Sanskrit and history at Vidyasagar’s College. 4 Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita – V, Section I Kala, eternity – he alone knows the meaning of Kali, time; who else but he can know Her as She truly is? The universe and all living beings rest in the Mother’s womb, and you presume to know Her vastness? Says Prasad, to think that you can know Her is as laughable as trying to swim across the sea. My mind understands, but alas my heart does not! Though but a dwarf, it aspires to catch the moon. Sri Ramakrishna says again, “The aim of life is to love God – the way the cowherd boys and milkmaids of Vrindavan loved Sri Krishna. When Sri Krishna went to Mathura, the cowherd boys wandered around weeping in sorrow at being separated from him.” Saying this, Thakur gazes upward and sings: I have just seen a new cowherd boy. He holds the branch of a young tree and in his arms he holds a new-born calf. Says he, where is brother Kanai? But he only mutters ‘K’ – unable to utter the complete word, Kanai. And his eyes are filled with tears. Hearing this song full of love from Thakur, M.’s eyes become filled with tears. Chapter II Sri Ramakrishna at a devotee’s house – at Prankrishna’s home Today Sri Ramakrishna has come to Calcutta. He is sitting with devotees in the parlour on the first floor of Prankrishna Mukherji’s Shyampukur house, having just eaten a meal with the devotees. It is Sunday, 2 April 1882, the 14 th day of the bright fortnight of 11 March – 2 April 1882 5 Chaitra, the time between 1 and 2 in the afternoon. Captain lives in the same neighborhood and Thakur wants to go to his house after resting at Prankrishna’s. Then he wants to visit Keshab Sen in his house called the Lily Cottage., Prankrishna is sitting in his parlour. Ram, Manomohan, Kedar, Surendra, Girindra (Surendra’s brother), Rakhal, Balaram, M. and other devotees are present. Some gentlemen of the neighborhood and other invited guests are also there. They are all anxious to hear what Thakur has to say. Thakur: “God and His glory. This world is certainly His glory. But seeing His splendour and glory, people forget everything else. They don’t look for Him who is the master of all these riches. Everybody wants to enjoy ‘lust and gold’ – but there are more problems than enjoyment. The world is like a whirlpool of Vishalakshi. Once a boat is caught in it, nothing can save it. Or it’s like a thorny bush. You pull yourself out of one thorn and get entangled with another. Once you enter a labyrinth, it’s difficult to find the way out of it. A man becomes scorched in the world of lust and gold.” A Devotee: “So what’s the way out?” The way: holy company and prayer Sri Ramakrishna: “There is a way: holy company and prayer. “Unless you go to a doctor, you can’t be cured. One day of holy company is not enough. It is always necessary, because the disease is chronic. Without going to a doctor, you don’t know how to diagnose 6 Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita – V, Section I the problem. You have to be with the doctor, here there and everywhere. Only then can you understand if it is phlegm or bile.” The Devotee: “How is holy company useful?” Sri Ramakrishna: “Association with the holy develops fondness for God, it generates love for Him. Unless you can develop yearning for God, you won’t achieve anything. By keeping the company of holy people, the heart becomes restless for God. It’s like feeling constantly worried when somebody at home is ill, worrying how the patient can be cured. This yearning should be like a person out of work who is running around from one office to another in the search of a job. If he’s told there’s no vacancy in the office, he goes again the next day to ask if one has occurred. “There is another way: praying with a sincere heart. He is your own. You have to say to Him, ‘Please reveal yourself to me, grant me Your vision. Why have you given birth to me?’ Sikh devotees said to me that God is kind. I said to them, ‘Why should I call Him kind? He has created us. What wonder is there that He is kind to us?’ What kindness is there in parents’ bringing up their children? He has to do it, so we should make demands on Him. He is our own father, our own mother. If the son wants his inheritance and begins to fast for it, his parents release it three years early. Again, when a boy entreats his mother for money, ‘Mother, I fall at your feet. Please give me money,’ the mother has to comply with his wishes. Seeing his insistence, she tosses a few coins at him. 11 March – 2 April 1882 7 “There is another benefit of holy company: only the thought of what is Real comes to mind – what is Real, what is eternal, that is, God.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Complete List of Books in Library Acc No Author Title of Book Subject Publisher Year R.No
    Complete List of Books in Library Acc No Author Title of book Subject Publisher Year R.No. 1 Satkari Mookerjee The Jaina Philosophy of PHIL Bharat Jaina Parisat 8/A1 Non-Absolutism 3 Swami Nikilananda Ramakrishna PER/BIO Rider & Co. 17/B2 4 Selwyn Gurney Champion Readings From World ECO `Watts & Co., London 14/B2 & Dorothy Short Religion 6 Bhupendra Datta Swami Vivekananda PER/BIO Nababharat Pub., 17/A3 Calcutta 7 H.D. Lewis The Principal Upanisads PHIL George Allen & Unwin 8/A1 14 Jawaherlal Nehru Buddhist Texts PHIL Bruno Cassirer 8/A1 15 Bhagwat Saran Women In Rgveda PHIL Nada Kishore & Bros., 8/A1 Benares. 15 Bhagwat Saran Upadhya Women in Rgveda LIT 9/B1 16 A.P. Karmarkar The Religions of India PHIL Mira Publishing Lonavla 8/A1 House 17 Shri Krishna Menon Atma-Darshan PHIL Sri Vidya Samiti 8/A1 Atmananda 20 Henri de Lubac S.J. Aspects of Budhism PHIL sheed & ward 8/A1 21 J.M. Sanyal The Shrimad Bhagabatam PHIL Dhirendra Nath Bose 8/A2 22 J.M. Sanyal The Shrimad PHIL Oriental Pub. 8/A2 Bhagabatam VolI 23 J.M. Sanyal The Shrimad PHIL Oriental Pub. 8/A2 Bhagabatam Vo.l III 24 J.M. Sanyal The Shrimad Bhagabatam PHIL Oriental Pub. 8/A2 25 J.M. Sanyal The Shrimad PHIL Oriental Pub. 8/A2 Bhagabatam Vol.V 26 Mahadev Desai The Gospel of Selfless G/REL Navijvan Press 14/B2 Action 28 Shankar Shankar's Children Art FIC/NOV Yamuna Shankar 2/A2 Number Volume 28 29 Nil The Adyar Library Bulletin LIT The Adyar Library and 9/B2 Research Centre 30 Fraser & Edwards Life And Teaching of PER/BIO Christian Literature 17/A3 Tukaram Society for India 40 Monier Williams Hinduism PHIL Susil Gupta (India) Ltd.
    [Show full text]
  • 10 Religious Reform Movements in Modern India: the Ramakrishna Mission and Swami Vivekananda- Flexiprep
    9/22/2021 Chapter – 10 Religious Reform Movements in Modern India: The Ramakrishna Mission and Swami Vivekananda- FlexiPrep FlexiPrep Chapter – 10 Religious Reform Movements in Modern India: The Ramakrishna Mission and Swami Vivekananda (For CBSE, ICSE, IAS, NET, NRA 2022) Get unlimited access to the best preparation resource for CBSE/Class-10 : get questions, notes, tests, video lectures and more- for all subjects of CBSE/Class-10. Attend a meeting of the Arya Samaj any day. They are also performing yajana and reading the scriptures. This was the basic contribution of Mool Shanker an important representative of the religious reform movement in India from Gujarat. He later came to be known as Dayanand Saraswathi. He founded the Arya Samaj in 1875. ©FlexiPrep. Report ©violations ＠https://tips.fbi.gov/ The most influential movement of religious and social reform in northern India was started by Dayanand Saraswathi. He held that the Vedas contained all the knowledge imparted to man by God and essentials of modern science could also be traced in them. 1 of 2 9/22/2021 Chapter – 10 Religious Reform Movements in Modern India: The Ramakrishna Mission and Swami Vivekananda- FlexiPrep He was opposed to idolatry, ritual and priesthood, particularly to the prevalent caste practices and popular Hinduism as preached by the Brahmins. He favoured the study of western science. With all this doctrine, he went about all over the country and in 1875 founded the Arya Samaj in Bombay. Satyarth Prakash was his most important book. The use of Hindi in his writings and preaching made his ideas accessible to the common people of northern India.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Name of Krishna: the Cultural Landscape of a North Indian Pilgrimage Town
    In the Name of Krishna: The Cultural Landscape of a North Indian Pilgrimage Town A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Sugata Ray IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Frederick M. Asher, Advisor April 2012 © Sugata Ray 2012 Acknowledgements They say writing a dissertation is a lonely and arduous task. But, I am fortunate to have found friends, colleagues, and mentors who have inspired me to make this laborious task far from arduous. It was Frederick M. Asher, my advisor, who inspired me to turn to places where art historians do not usually venture. The temple city of Khajuraho is not just the exquisite 11th-century temples at the site. Rather, the 11th-century temples are part of a larger visuality that extends to contemporary civic monuments in the city center, Rick suggested in the first class that I took with him. I learnt to move across time and space. To understand modern Vrindavan, one would have to look at its Mughal past; to understand temple architecture, one would have to look for rebellions in the colonial archive. Catherine B. Asher gave me the gift of the Mughal world – a world that I only barely knew before I met her. Today, I speak of the Islamicate world of colonial Vrindavan. Cathy walked me through Mughal mosques, tombs, and gardens on many cold wintry days in Minneapolis and on a hot summer day in Sasaram, Bihar. The Islamicate Krishna in my dissertation thus came into being.
    [Show full text]
  • Secrets of RSS
    Secrets of RSS DEMYSTIFYING THE SANGH (The Largest Indian NGO in the World) by Ratan Sharda © Ratan Sharda E-book of second edition released May, 2015 Ratan Sharda, Mumbai, India Email:[email protected]; [email protected] License Notes This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-soldor given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person,please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and didnot purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to yourfavorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hardwork of this author. About the Book Narendra Modi, the present Prime Minister of India, is a true blue RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or National Volunteers Organization) swayamsevak or volunteer. More importantly, he is a product of prachaarak system, a unique institution of RSS. More than his election campaigns, his conduct after becoming the Prime Minister really tells us how a responsible RSS worker and prachaarak responds to any responsibility he is entrusted with. His rise is also illustrative example of submission by author in this book that RSS has been able to design a system that can create ‘extraordinary achievers out of ordinary people’. When the first edition of Secrets of RSS was released, air was thick with motivated propaganda about ‘Saffron terror’ and RSS was the favourite whipping boy as the face of ‘Hindu fascism’. Now as the second edition is ready for release, environment has transformed radically.
    [Show full text]
  • Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, and Hindu-Christian Dialogue
    Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies Volume 8 Article 5 January 1995 Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, and Hindu-Christian Dialogue Michael Stoeber Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Stoeber, Michael (1995) "Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, and Hindu-Christian Dialogue," Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies: Vol. 8, Article 5. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1110 The Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies is a publication of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies. The digital version is made available by Digital Commons @ Butler University. For questions about the Journal or the Society, please contact [email protected]. For more information about Digital Commons @ Butler University, please contact [email protected]. Stoeber: Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, and Hindu-Christian Dialogue SRI RAMAKRISHNA, SWAl\II VIVEKANANDA, AND HINDU-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE* Michael Stoeber The Catholic University of America IN THE LATE smnmer of 1993, noted for his interests in Buddhism, representatives of the major religions of the Sikhism, J ainism, Islam, and Christianity. world met in interfaith dialogue in Chicago, Indeed, his experiences of elements of these to celebrate the centenary of the 1893 different faiths led him to advocate a World's Parliament of Religions. The 1893 common divine Reality behind the many Parliament was remarkable, both in its forms of religiousness, despite the many magnitude and its purpose: it brought differences between traditions. He once together forty-one denominations and over commented, for example: four hundred men and women in a forum of A lake has several ghats [bathing mutual teaching and learning.
    [Show full text]
  • Balabodha Sangraham
    बालबोध सङ्ग्रहः - १ BALABODHA SANGRAHA - 1 A Non-detailed Text book for Vedic Students Compiled with blessings and under instructions and guidance of Paramahamsa Parivrajakacharya Jagadguru Sri Sri Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Sri Sankaracharya Swamiji 69th Peethadhipathi and Paramahamsa Parivrajakacharya Jagadguru Sri Sri Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Sri Sankaracharya Swamiji 70th Peethadhipathi of Moolamnaya Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham Offered with devotion and humility by Sri Atma Bodha Tirtha Swamiji (Sri Kumbakonam Swamiji) Disciple of Pujyasri Kuvalayananda Tirtha Swamiji (Sri Tambudu Swamiji) Translation from Tamil by P.R.Kannan, Navi Mumbai Page 1 of 86 Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham ॥ श्रीमहागणपतये नमः ॥ ॥ श्री गु셁भ्यो नमः ॥ INTRODUCTION जगत्कामकलाकारं नािभस्थानं भुवः परम् । पदपस्य कामाक्षयाः महापीठमुपास्महे ॥ सदाििवसमारमभां िंकराचाययमध्यमाम् । ऄस्मदाचाययपययनतां वनदे गु셁परमपराम् ॥ We worship the Mahapitha of Devi Kamakshi‟s lotus feet, the originator of „Kamakala‟ in the world, the supreme navel-spot of the earth. We worship the Guru tradition, starting from Sadasiva, having Sankaracharya in the middle and coming down upto our present Acharya. This book is being published for use of students who join Veda Pathasala for the first year of Vedic studies and specially for those students who are between 7 and 12 years of age. This book is similar to the Non-detailed text books taught in school curriculum. We wish that Veda teachers should teach this book to their Veda students on Anadhyayana days (days on which Vedic teaching is prohibited) or according to their convenience and motivate the students.
    [Show full text]
  • Odisha Review Dr
    Orissa Review * Index-1948-2013 Index of Orissa Review (April-1948 to May -2013) Sl. Title of the Article Name of the Author Page No. No April - 1948 1. The Country Side : Its Needs, Drawbacks and Opportunities (Extracts from Speeches of H.E. Dr. K.N. Katju ) ... 1 2. Gur from Palm-Juice ... 5 3. Facilities and Amenities ... 6 4. Departmental Tit-Bits ... 8 5. In State Areas ... 12 6. Development Notes ... 13 7. Food News ... 17 8. The Draft Constitution of India ... 20 9. The Honourable Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's Visit to Orissa ... 22 10. New Capital for Orissa ... 33 11. The Hirakud Project ... 34 12. Fuller Report of Speeches ... 37 May - 1948 1. Opportunities of United Development ... 43 2. Implication of the Union (Speeches of Hon'ble Prime Minister) ... 47 3. The Orissa State's Assembly ... 49 4. Policies and Decisions ... 50 5. Implications of a Secular State ... 52 6. Laws Passed or Proposed ... 54 7. Facilities & Amenities ... 61 8. Our Tourists' Corner ... 61 9. States the Area Budget, January to March, 1948 ... 63 10. Doings in Other Provinces ... 67 1 Orissa Review * Index-1948-2013 11. All India Affairs ... 68 12. Relief & Rehabilitation ... 69 13. Coming Events of Interests ... 70 14. Medical Notes ... 70 15. Gandhi Memorial Fund ... 72 16. Development Schemes in Orissa ... 73 17. Our Distinguished Visitors ... 75 18. Development Notes ... 77 19. Policies and Decisions ... 80 20. Food Notes ... 81 21. Our Tourists Corner ... 83 22. Notice and Announcement ... 91 23. In State Areas ... 91 24. Doings of Other Provinces ... 92 25. Separation of the Judiciary from the Executive ..
    [Show full text]
  • Chicago Calling
    1. Sri Ramakrishna’s home at Kamarpukur with Shiva Temple 8. Sri Ramakrishna’s room 2. Sri Ramakrishna’s room at Cossipore at Kamarpukur CHICAGO CALLING 7. Sri Ramakrishna’s room and 3. Sri Ramakrishna’s room Nahabat, Sri Sarada Devi’s room, at Dakshineshwar at Dashineshwar A Spiritual & Cultural Quarterly eZine of Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago No. 13, 2017 6. Panchavati at Dashineshwar 4. Sri Ramakrishna’s room at Dakshineshwar (view from the temple side) 5. Dakshineshwar Temple: An Illustration Table of Contents Pag e EDITORIAL 3 SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S INSPIRED TEACHINGS 5 SWAMI KRIPAMAYANANDA SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ON COURAGE 7 SWAMI TYAGANANDA ARISE, AWAKE AND STOP NOT 10 MAHAVAKYAS 11 SWAMI ISHATMANANDA INTRODUCTION TO THE COVER PAGE 15 ADVERTISEMENTS 17 Editor: Swami Ishatmananda Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago 14630 Lemont Road, Homer Glen. 60491 email: [email protected] chicagovedanta.org ©Copyright: Minister-in-Charge Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago NO 13. 2017 Chicago Calling 2 On February 28, 2017 millions of people all Avatara is a reservoir of great spiritual power. over the world celebrated the 182nd Tithi Puja (Birth Anniversary) of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna. Sri Ramakrishna showed through his life how to inculcate the divinity already in every human Hindus believe and the scriptures support the being. His boyhood was full of mystical idea that every time the culture and religion of experiences. The whole of his youth was spent in India (Bharat-Varsha) face the danger of being various spiritual practices. The intensity and overpowered by hostile forces the Supreme Being diversity of his practices have no parallel in the takes form and ascends to earth to save them.
    [Show full text]
  • Satanism, Tantrism and the Left-Hand Path
    SATANISM, TANTRISM AND THE LEFT-HAND PATH Modern Satanism is, in the West, essentially precisely what one certain form of Tantrism is in the East, i.e. the primary form of anti-nomian religious and moral dissent from mainstream herd practice. This is characterized in BOTH by a preference for the physical and material over the purely spiritual; physical pleasures over physical denial, and the fully acceptable use of magic for selfish worldly purposes. This pretty much describes those elements common to the "Left Hand Path" in both Western (LaVeyan and Setian) and Eastern (Tantric) usage of that term today. So clearly the Left-hand Path encompasses both Modern Satanism and one of the forms of Tantrism. "LEFT-HAND PATH" IN THE EAST Tantrism can be found in both Hindu and Buddhist varieties. Hindu Tantric practice is generally divided amoung two paths; The Vamamarga (or vamacara or vamachara) or "Left Hand Path" or red tantra and the Dakshinachara or "Right Hand Path" or white tantra. The most obvious but not the only distinction between these two is that LHP Tantra involves actual sexual practice as part of its rituals while RHP tantra uses non-sexual yoga practices instead. It is interesting to note that in common usage in India today, the term "Tantra" has come to mean "black magic" while in the West that term has come to refer mostly to hippie-like "sacred sex" yoga classes. Experts say both interpretations tend to cloud the full picture of what Tantra is fully about. Here are just two of the many credible references that note this same primary distinction between the two paths of Tantra: http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/tantra/schools.htm http://www.luckymojo.com/tktantradefinition.html There is little question that Tantra (both Buddhist and Hindu) arose in part as an anti-nomian revolt against restrictive mainstream Vedic, Buddhist and even Muslim morality.
    [Show full text]
  • Substantial and Substantive Corporeality in the Body Discourses of Bhakti Poets
    Perichoresis Volume 18.2 (2020): 73–94 DOI: 10.2478/perc-2020-0012 SUBSTANTIAL AND SUBSTANTIVE CORPOREALITY IN THE BODY DISCOURSES OF BHAKTI POETS YADAV SUMATI* PG Govt. College for Girls, Chandigarh, India ABSTRACT. This paper studies the representation of human corporeal reality in the discours- es of selected Bhakti poets of the late medieval period in India. Considering the historical background of the Bhakti movement and contemporary cultural milieu in which these mystic poets lived, their unique appropriation of the ancient concept of body is reviewed as revolu- tionary. The focus of the study is the Kabir Bijak, Surdas’s Vinay-Patrika, and Tulsidas’s Vinay- Patrika, wherein they look at and beyond the organic corporeality and encounter human body not as a socially, religiously, economically stamped noble body or lowly body; male body or female body, but a human body. This paper explores how, like existential phenomenologists, these poet/singers decode the material reality of human beings and link it to the highest goal of achieving Moksha (liberation from the cycle of birth-death) by making body a vulnerable but essential instrument towards spiritual awakening. The paper also reflects upon how these poets have suggested a middle path of absolute devotion to God while performing all earthly duties, seek spiritual enlightenment and avoid the extremities of asceticism and hedonism. KEYWORDS: corporeality, body, liberation, salvation, bhakti In this Kali Yug the body is full of woe, care, wickedness and diverse pains. Where there is steadfastness, peace and all purity, rise, Kabir, and meet it there. (Kabir) Those powerful rulers who had conquered the whole world, even made Yamraj (the God of death) their captive and tied him up—even they became the food of Kaal (Time), what do you count then? Contemplate and think about the whole matter seriously yourself—what is the truth, what is the reality.
    [Show full text]
  • Swami Dayatmananda
    Contents About Vivekananda Human Centre 1 Editorial Board 2 Editorial 3 Programme 4-6 Message: The Queen 7 Message: The Prince of Wales 8 Message: Revered Swami Atmasthanandaji Maharaj 9 Homage to Revered Swami Atmasthanandaji Maharaj 10 Message: The High Commissioner of India 11 Message: The Rt Hon priti Patel Mp 12 Message: The Duck And Duchess 13 Message: Prince Harry 14 Message: The Mayor of Camden 15 Message: Mayor of Tower Hamlets 16 Message: Revered Swami Smaranananda 17 Message: Revered Swami Vagishananda 18 Message: Revered Swami Prabhananda 19 Message: Mr Virendra Sharma MP 20 Message: Revered Swami Suhitananda 21 Message: ST John on Bethnal Green 22 Message: Revered Swami Gautamananda 23 Message: Revered Swami Ameyananda 24 Message: Revered Swami Suvirananda 25 Message: Revered Swami Dhruveshananda 26 Nivedita: A Great Wonder: Revered Swami Chetanananda 27-33 Nivedita, The Dedicated: Revered Swami Dayatmananda 34-36 Vivekananda’s message offers us hope in 2017: Gary Thompson 37 Unity in Diversity: Revered Swami Girishananda 38-39 Swami Vivekananda’s Philosophy Of Service As A Way Of Life: Revered Swami Suvirananda 40-41 Vivekananda’s concept of Practical Vedanta and Universal Religion: Revered Swami Balabhadrananda 42-43 Sri Ramakrishna in Contemporary Eyes: Revered Swami Vimalatmananda 44-51 “Every individual soul is potentially divine”, proclaimed Swami Vivekananda: David Russell 52 Thoughts & Inspirations From a Letter: Revered Swami Purnananda 53-54 Ramakrishna-Vivekananda’s Nivedita: Revered Swami Sthiratmananda 55-58
    [Show full text]
  • Ramakrishna Tomo II
    www.bibliotecaespiritual.com EL EVANGELIO DE SRI RAMAKRISHNA Primera Edición Tomo II www.bibliotecaespiritual.com El Evangelio de Sri Ramakrishna, (Tomo II) www.bibliotecaespiritual.com INDICE Página Presentación.....................................................................................................................10 17. M. EN DAKSHINESWAR (I)...............................................................................11 La naturaleza de la gente mundana - Los obstáculos al samadhi - El sendero al Dios Impersonal - Dios y Su devoto - Encarnaciones Divinas - El anhelo de las gopis por Krishna - Dios manifestándose como seres vivientes - El estado de ánimo del Maestro semejante al de un niño - Brahman sin forma - Las distintas manifestaciones de lo Absoluto - La visión que tuvo el Maestro de Gauranga - La parábola del tigre herbívoro - La naturaleza del amor ex- tático - Dios, cuando Se encarna como hombre, actúa como hombre - Remi- niscencias del Maestro acerca de Mathura y Vrindavan - Los seis centros psíquicos - El momento apropiado para el desarrollo espiritual. 18. M. EN DAKSHINESWAR (II)..............................................................................31 Brahman y Shakti son idénticos - Las muchas formas de la manifestación divina - Los deberes y los cultos ceremoniales - La práctica de la comunión con Dios - La necesidad de la disciplina espiritual - Entrega a Dios - El ejemplo del monito y del gatito - Dios con forma y la Deidad sin forma - La oración del Maestro por amor puro - La devoción inmutable a Dios - Cómo recibir la gracia de Dios - La renunciación al apego mundano - El amor de- sinteresado por Dios - Futilidad del razonar - Visiones del Maestro - El Maestro exhorta a M. a que no razone - Las distintas actitudes hacia Dios - El Maestro y el Brahmo Samaya - El Maestro y la filantropía - El significa- do del libre albedrío - La oración del Maestro a la Divina Madre - El con- sejo a M.
    [Show full text]