| From the day Sri
Ramakrishna was born dates the growth of modern India and of
the Golden Age. A divine life steeped in the truest
knowledge of Atman (Self), Sri Ramakrishna was the
concentrated embodiment of knowledge, love, renunciation,
catholicity and the desire to serve mankind. His halycon
infancy at the remote village Kamarpukur where he was born
on 18 February, 1836, showed the deepest inclination towards
spiritual practices of Hinduism. This further led to the
sincerest observance of different other faiths such as Vaishnivism & Tantrism as well as other religions like
Islam & Christianity -- all of which unfolded the Great
Truth of One, Infinite Reality before him. Pervaded by this
oneness in the state of 'Samadhi', he revalidated the
Rig-Vedic declaration --'Truth is one, the wise speak of it
variously.' The Kali temple at Dakshineswar where he lived
later on became the confluence of people from all walks of
life; gentry as well as laity rushed to him like bees coming
of their own accord to the blooming flower. His deepest
devotion and unfathomable urge for seeing Mother Kali was
the beaconlight for a great many contemporary spiritual
aspirants.
An extraordinary yet astonishingly
simple speaking style adorned with knowledge of things
spiritual and human was his very characteristic. Still all
his knowledge was derived from direct perception. The
boundless love that Sri Ramakrishna personified permeated
his disciples -- monastic as well as householders --
and resulted in the founding of the Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna
Mission (founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897) that would
carry the torch of 'Sacrifice & Service' to humanity.
Such a God-intoxicated life was really a phenomenon that
influenced and transformed great Indian minds such as Vidyasagar, Bankim Chandra, Girish Ghosh, Keshab Chandra,
Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Bose and western scholars like
Arnold Toynbee, Leo Tolstoy, Aldous Huxley, Roman Rolland,
Christopher Isherwood et al. The life that itself was the
message is the 'shining pillar of illumination', as Swami
Vivekananda puts it, 'and by his light alone man now crosses
the ocean of Samsara'. Books
on Sri Ramakrishna:
Life of Ramakrishna -- Romain Roland
Life of Ramakrishna -- Foreword by Mahatma Gandhi
Ramakrishna & His Disciples -- Christopher
Isherwood
Ramakrishna: A biography in pictures Ramakrishna
The Great
Master (Two Volumes) -- Swami
Saradananda
Sri Ramakrishna : Life and Teachings -- Swami
Tapasyananda
The Master and His Disciple -- D.S.
Sarma
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (Two Volumes) -- Mahendranath Gupta (M.)
Sri Ramakrishna Upanishad -- C.
Rajagopalachari
The Visions of Sri Ramakrishna -- Swami
Yogeshananda
Sri Ramakrishna: His Life & Sayings -- Max Muller
For Online
purchase and further details please contact:
www.sriramakrishnamath.org
www.advaitaonline.com
www.udbodhan.org
|
