Ramkrishna paramhans, Vivekanand, Chaitany mahaprabhu

livingentity · July 16, 2003

Well it may indeed sound like that at first since some <font color="red">impersonalists choose to mimic the phraseology and sentiments of realized vaisnava's</font color>

I_love_krishna_ · July 16, 2003

What sort of danger please explain.

livingentity · July 16, 2003

believing that the personalist and the impersonalist philosophies come to the same conclusion, of course!

I_love_krishna_ · July 16, 2003

Chinmayananda who also quotes vivekananda explains :

"By this famous verse-- which is daily repeated as grace before meals in cultured Indian homes--Krishna wants to divinise all our activies, all through the day, with this constant invocation of the Lord and by the continuous reconition of Lord's play in all happenings with in and with out us. Thus, prayer to the Hindu is not a special day of rest once a week, nor even a few minutes of devoted engagements every day. Religion to the Hindu is not merely in the house of gods, but it is constant daylong inner attitude of dedication to his(or her) lord, who is none other than the Lord of the Universe-- whose every manifestation is the cosmos. In such an all-embracing atmosphere of the divine awareness when one lives, all his/her actions , even the most insignificant and mundane , must become an unconscious but powerful invocation of the supreme and the total dedication of his/her ego at the Supreme (krishna)."

Isn't this familiar to Prabhupada's teaching?

Srila Prabhupada says give all you got to krishna because you are krishna's property (L.E. mam, I am not speculating now am I) .

And these guys say " Give all you got to the supreme self.

Krishna lives in our heart, he is our controller.

The supreme self that they refer to is the true controller and they think that that self alone exists not them.

In other words, they are kind of things controlled by the supreme self...

very familiar... you are controlled by krishna, you belong to krishna and krishna makes up everything... thats what they say too.

I_love_krishna_ · July 16, 2003

In my view, there is no danger in believing the truth...

The truth is my krishna, the truth is only him. He alone exists in the bible, Quran and Geeta. He is Yaweh he is everything.

krishna_s · July 16, 2003

A guest wrote:

Why I write what I have written above can best be understood if any reader takes the trouble to read on Sri Ramakrishna. There are a number of books available. I would suggest the first time reader to take up "The life of Ramakrishna" by Romain Rolland.

There are indeed a number of books available. Consider for example, the well known publication of "Ramakrishna's Foot" by Jeffrey Kripal, based as it is on the Ramakrishna Kathamrita authored by Ramakrishna's own disciple Mahendranath Gupta. Kripal very elegantly deconstructs the entire Ramakrishna myth, revealing a man who was motivated more by homoerotic sensuality in the guise of Tantra and Kali bhakti rather than anything genuinely spiritual in the Vedic sense.

And I just wish to mention this for those not aware about the life of Sri Ramakrishna that though He was known as a devotee of Kali, He was a great devotee of Sri Krishna too(you might wonder how he got the name Ramakrishna). There are numerous instances where He got lost in samadhi through the mention of Krishna or any of his lilas or visiting a place associated with the memory of Sri Krishna.

People who are ignorant of shaastra take bhakti very cheaply. That he had popular appeal does not make him a devotee. Ananya-bhakti is defined in shaastras, not in the imaginations of the uneducated, lay population.

- K

I_love_krishna_ · July 16, 2003

believe what you want, the truth remains the same. Also, stick with the philosophy here....

July 16, 2003

the best thing is to use the "prabhupada system"... one put a sentence of ramakrsna or vivekananda and the others judge according their views ....... more simple than discuss on nothing

theist · July 16, 2003

Here is a qoute attributed to him

So long as there is the "I" there is duality. The Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute is an ocean, within which is the pitcher 'I'. So long as there is the pitcher, the water seems to be separate - one portion is inside the pitcher and the other outside. When the pitcher breaks, there is one mass of water; and that cannot be expressed in words. Who will do so?

So his idea is to break the sense of "I" or individual existence, then you will be enlightened.

Vaisnava's want to keep the I and to have the consciousness of that I fixed on the the Supreme I.

So Ramakrishna is teaching no I and the Vaisnavas are teaching that the I's are expanded without number with one I predominating over the small I's simultaneously.

Ramakrishna wants to ride his so-called bhakti into liberation and to the vaisnava's, liberation is the platform to stand on as their bhakti moves into full stride for eternity.

Very very different.

July 16, 2003

You are right... I guess.

July 16, 2003

I_love_krishna_

February 3, 2004

After seeing your subsequent mail exchanges, it seems we are at lower level of truth. If you read Krishna or RamKrishna, indeed there is no difference. If at all there is difference, that is in our attitude. Read with Love and Shraddha, God emerges from any scripture.

Love and respect is the essence, never dominate, never diminue yourself, we are all one who live in Krishana, Vishnu, GOD or Ramkrsihna. This is the mistake when we being, identify ourselves or great manifestation of God to be a personality. Persoanlity is just an aspect with in material existence but not a totality.

When we search for truth, we never search from wrong to Right, but in actuality from Truth to Truth, from Lower truth to absloute truth. Thats what the journey of soul.

Never claim to be knower of truth, always be seeker, once you are knower, you will find every activity related to matter punny and small and would never utter a word, thats what preached by RamKrishna.

Never criticize consciously or unconsciously others, since we are the part of the same Father, who is one, who in in us, and who is every where, seek HIM every where.

February 5, 2004

Ramakrishna and Vivekanada's teachings show how to interpret Hinduism in the modern light and how all the various sects are related and how they fit together in Hinduism. Their teachings unite Hindus from all sects as Ramakrishna has many spiritual experiences of God in different form including Krishna. There movement is solely based on Vedanta as Swami Chinmayananda's movement was. However I do not believe that he or Chaitanya were God incarnate! They were simply great devotees with genuine aquired spiritual power, we should not worship them as God. God is much more than that. In the case of Ramakrisha, some people believe that he was one with Brahman in the Advaitic sense, so they call him God.

Vivekananda's meat-eating should be non-issue as many ancient Sages were meat eaters and still were spiritual (Vivekanada was just experimenting to see if it desroys a persons spirituality)...even Buddha was a meat-eater and the BrihadAranyaka Upanishad even recommends beef eating! If you don't believe me please look up 6.4.18 "If one wishes for a learned, noble son learned in the Vedas, they should have rice cooked with meat (veal or beef) and eat it with clarified butter, then they should be able to beget such a son".

Whereas Vivekandanda accepts that this did happen in ancient times, but not any more the 'Vaishnavas' ignore it, pretending as if it doesn't exist.

Whereas some of the teachings of Prabhupada are divisive to Hindus, as he does not recognise any other path in Hinduism calling them "useless branches of the Vedic tree" and brings down other forms of God as simply demi-gods. When Prabhupada's movement got power in the west he thought he could create another "us and them" religion...to a certain extent he has suceeded. When Hare Krishnas need help they call the "Hindus" and consider themselves so, but when they don't need help they are 'Vaishnavas'.

I don't wish to offend any Vashnavas, I respect it but I do think they should provide some answers for their views, and not just 'following the leader' but giving honest answers that make sense.

February 5, 2004

not all the vaishnavas/gaudya/iskcon/harekrishna are fanatics and blind believers, and there's an explanation for all your doubts.. also for the meat eating in the past, that no one is ignoring... it is accepted .. the problem is if it is good to do like that in the present (even if all is marginal in comparison to the urgent need to spread the chanting and the hearing of the name of god.. especially the mahamantra)

barney · February 6, 2004

Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

01. A man is truly free, even here in this embodied state, if he knows that God is the true agent and he by himself is powerless to do anything.

02. It is easy to talk on religion, but difficult to practice it.

03. Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious. One must practice the virtues taught in such books in order to acquire love of God.

04. If you first fortify yourself with the true knowledge of the Universal Self, and then live in the midst of wealth and worldliness, surely they will in no way affect you.

05. If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love of God.

06. Many are the names of God and infinite the forms through which He may be approached.

07. One must be very particular about telling the truth. Through truth one can realize God.

08. As a wet-nurse in a wealthy family brings up her master's child, loving it as if it were her own, yet knowing well that she has no claim upon it, so you also think that you are but trustee and guardians of your children whose real father is the Lord himself.

09. Because of the screen of Maya (illusion) that shuts off God from human view, one cannot see Him playing in one's heart.

10. Unless one always speaks the truth, one cannot find God Who is the soul of truth.

11. Work, apart from devotion or love of God, is helpless and cannot stand-alone.

12. If you desire to be pure, have firm faith, and slowly go on with your devotional practices without wasting your energy in useless scriptural discussions and arguments. Your little brain will otherwise be muddled.

13. After installing GOD on the lotus of your heart, you must keep the lamp of remembering God ever burning. While engaged in the affairs of the world, you should constantly turn your gaze inwards and see whether the lamp is burning or not.

15. To work without attachment is to work without the expectation of reward or fear of any punishment in this world or the next. Work so done is a means to the end, and God is the end.

16. As long as you are a person with an ego of your own, cannot conceive, think of or perceive God other than as a person.

17. God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is why we suffer.

18. When the divine vision is attained, all appear equal; and there remains no distinction of good and bad, or of high and low.

19. Good and evil cannot bind him who has realized the oneness of Nature and his own self with Brahman.

barney · February 6, 2004

Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna