WHO ARE THE PERSONALITIES AT
TEMPLE UNIVERSAL?
RAMAKRISHNA
The Incarnation of Universality
Swami Lokeswarananda
Swami Ramakrishna (1834-1886) was born in Bengal,
India. As a priest at the temple of the Goddess
Kali near Calcutta in 1855, he developed a passionate
devotion to the Goddess and frequently passed into
higher, spiritual states of consciousness.
RAMAKRISHNA'S LOVE FOR ALL
With time he became famous for his holiness and
compassion. Like every spiritual genius, his love
for humanity was boundless. What is so unusual is
that his attitude was all accepting. Hindus, Muslims,
and Christians, Buddhists and Sikhs, visited him
on the Temple grounds.
Through his broad heart and unusual wisdom, he experienced
God in and through the disciplines of many of these
traditions, and found that he attained the same
higher state of consciousness through each. His
teaching was that all religions are legitimate paths
to God realization.
HIS UNIVERSAL TEACHINGS
The following are statements from the teachings
of Sri Ramakrishna
"It's not good to feel that one's own religion
alone is true and all others are false.
God is one only, and not two. Different people call
on Him by different names: some as Allah, some as
God, and others as Krishna, Siva, and Brahman.
It's like the water in a lake. Some drink it at
one place and call it 'jal', others at another place
and call it 'pani', and still others at a third
place and call it 'water'.
The Hindus call it 'jal', the Christians 'water',
and the Muslim’s 'pani'. But it's one and
the same thing. Opinions are but paths. Each religion
is only a path leading to God, as rivers come from
different directions and ultimately become one in
the one ocean."
GOD IS ALWAYS PRESENT
"You may see many stars at night in the sky
but find them not when the sun rises; can you say
there are no stars in the heaven during the day?
So, O man! because you behold not God in the days
of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.
As one and the same material, water, is called by
different names by different peoples, one calling
it water, another eau, a third aqua, and another
pani, so the one Sat-chit-ananda, the everlasting-intelligence-bliss,
is invoked by some as God, some as Allah, as Jehovah,
as Hari, and by others as Brahman.
As one can ascend to the top of a house by means
of a ladder, a bamboo, a staircase or a rope, so
diverse are the ways and means to approach God,
and every religion in the world shows one of these
ways.
Different creeds are but different paths to reach
the Almighty. Various and different are the ways
that lead to the temple of Mother Kali at Kalighat
(Calcutta). Similarly, various are the ways that
lead to the house of the Lord. Every religion is
nothing but one of such paths that lead to God.
HONOR ALL RELIGIONS
As the young wife in a family shows her love and
respect to her father-in-law, mother-in-law, and
every other member of the family, and at the same
time loves her husband more than these; similarly,
being firm in they devotion to the deity of thy
choice, don't despise other deities, but honor them
all.
Bow down and worship where others kneel, for where
so many have been paying the tribute of adoration
the kind Lord must manifest himself, for he is all
mercy.
Two persons were hotly disputing as to the color
of a chameleon.
One said, "The chameleon, on that palm tree
is of a beautiful red color." The other, contradicting
him, said, "You are mistaken, the chameleon
is not red but blue."
Not being able to settle the matter by arguments,
both went to the person who always lived under that
tree and had watched the chameleon in all its phases
of color. One of them said, "Sir, isn't the
chameleon on that tree of a red color?" The
person replied, "Yes, sir." The other
disputant said, "What do you say? How is it?
It isn't red, it's blue." That person again
humbly replied, "Yes sir."
The person knew that the chameleon is an animal
that constantly changes color;
thus it was that he said "yes" to both
of these conflicting statements.
The Sat-chit-ananda (existence, knowingness, joy)
likewise has many forms.
The devotee who's seen God in one aspect only,
knows him in that aspect alone. But he who's seen
him in manifold aspects is alone in a position to
say, "All these forms are of one god and God
is multiform." He's formless and with form,
and many are his forms which no one knows."
The Religion Sri Ramakrishna Taught
Sri Ramakrishna did not teach any creed of dogma.
He never told people to follow a particular religious
belief or practice. He preached only Truth.
Truth, he said, is the essence of religion. It is
God. And to realize it is the goal of life. Truth
is Hinduism to the Hindus, Christianity to the Christians,
and Islam to the Moslems. Religion, that is, Truth,
is one and the same, but creeds and dogmas, rituals
and practices are different, sometimes even contradictory.
Sri Ramakrishna didn't object to creeds and dogmas,
and so forth, but warned us that these should not
be considered the goal. They're merely the means
to reach the goal, and they are not the only means.
Tastes are different. What is suitable for one
individual or community may not be suitable for
another.
Each individual should choose the means in accordance
with his or her own taste. Just as people choose
different foods according to their tastes and habits.
According to Sri Ramakrishna, it's wrong to assume
that what one believes or practices is the best
or the only way. The main thing is to reach the
goal, which is Truth. How one reaches it is up to
the individual.
In India, wise men said long ago, "Truth is
one, but scholars define that Truth differently."
Sri Ramakrishna taught the same thing, but his words
came from his experience.
He had followed the practices of different religions,
and then from his own experience taught that Truth
was one, and that a person could reach that Truth
by practicing any religion. Quarrels about religion
was distasteful to him. All religions were equally
valid, but one religion might not suit everybody.
Sri Ramakrishna urged people to practice whatever
they thought was right and good. Only by practicing
religion would people know what they needed to know
about religion. No amount of arguing would help.
Nor can one know Truth by hearsay. One has to experience
Truth for oneself.
Now we are merely seeking wealth, power and position,
or scholarship.
These things seem very desirable, but do they satisfy
us?
They may satisfy us for the time being, but soon
we begin to feel we're missing something. A sense
of inadequacy haunts us all the time, and we become
restless. This happens because we're never complete
until and unless we've realized Truth. Only then
can we be happy and satisfied.
Truth is ultimate. By "Truth" we do not
mean the kind of truth we learn in history, science,
or other subjects. Such truths may change and may
some day be proven useless.
But the ultimate Truth never changes. It is always
the same. And it is the innermost essence of all
that exists. It is the Self of all. It is both the
efficient cause and the material cause of this universe
with everything in it--from the smallest to the
largest.
What happens when we experience Truth? We become
totally transformed. Moreover, our outlook becomes
universal.
When we know this Truth, we feel we're one with
the universe. We feel we are the universe. Now we
think we're the body with all its limitations. But
when we realize the Truth we will feel that the
whole universe is our body, and that everything
and every being is our Self. This feeling of oneness
is the highest experience a person can have. And
this is what brings true universal love.
Sri Ramakrishna not only taught this universal
love - he also lived it. He loved everyone and every
thing. Cast, community, or country made no difference
to him.
If someone plucked a flow, he felt as if his heart
was being plucked out. If someone beat an animal,
he felt as if he was being beaten. If a man was
beating another man, he felt that pain in his own
body, and even the marks of the beating were seen
on his body. He never felt himself separate from
others. His happiness was in the happiness of others;
his sorrow in the sorrow of others.
Once his disciple, Swami Vivekananda, prayed to
him for liberation. Sir Ramakrishna scolded him.
He said that a higher goal was to serve others as
if he was serving God.
Since Truth is one and is the Self of all, by serving
others, one, in fact, serves oneself. Sri Ramakrishna
taught that one should serve others with humility
and reverence, and that service should be given
out of love - not out of pity. That is real worship.
That is practical religion.
As God is the Self of all, service should be rendered
to all, irrespective of their community or whether
they are considered good or bad.
According to Sri Ramakrishna, even the wicked should
be worshipped as God. Sri Ramakrishna was love personified.
His religion, therefore, is a religion of universal
love. Only such a religion can be a universal religion.
And only such a religion can serve as a cementing
force in today's world. Such a religion does not
divide, but only unites. It makes us feel we are
all one. If we differ, we differ merely in detail
s-- in race, language, food habits, ways of worship
and so on.
Sri Ramakrishna taught, "always go forward."
The world of religion is infinite. Sri Ramakrishna
used to tell the story of the woodcutter and the
holy man.
A woodcutter had long been working in a particular
area of the forest. One day a holy man came that
way and told him "Go forward." So he decided
to go further into the forest. As a result, he discovered
a sandalwood forest. He was very happy, as the sandalwood
fetched him a lot more money than the other wood.
He worked for a while in that area, but one day
he remembered the holy man's words, "God forward."
He again went deeper into the forest and found a
silver-mine He make a huge amount of money from
it, but he did not stop there. After some time,
he went further on and found a gold-mine. Again
he went forward and discovered a mine of diamonds.
He thus became richer and richer.
What Sri Ramakrishna meant was that we should keep
going on and on in our spiritual pursuit. It is
as if we are climbing the Himalayas.
We keep climbing higher and higher till we have
reached the highest peak. We shouldn't be content
with anything less than the highest and the best
- this was his advice. How disappointed he would
be if he found someone mistaking one of the lower
peaks for the highest. He wanted us to keep pressing
forward all the time. Let's suppose we've discovered
a silver mine. But why should we stop there? Why
not find a gold-mine, and even a diamond-mine? Let
us go on and on, never thinking we've reached the
goal. Going forward will be our goal.
Sri Ramakrishna also taught that we should never
think that what we can know of God is all there
is to know.
We can never know all about God. We can know only
a little. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, "Can
a doll made of salt measure the depth of the ocean?"
No. Similarly, how can human beings, who are finite,
know God, who is infinite? We can't.
There are people who think their religion is the
only true religion and that it is the best of all
religions. To think like this is to try and limit
God.
No one can say what God is like. God is beyond thought
and speech. Sri Ramakrishna used to tell the story
of two brothers who were sent by their father to
study the scriptures with a teacher. After studying
with their teacher for a number of years, they returned
home. Their father, himself a scholar, wanted to
test them. He asked each of them to tell him what
his idea was about God. The older son made a long
speech, trying his best to impress his father with
his scholarship. When he'd finished, the father
asked the younger son to say something. The younger
son, however, remained silent. The father was very
pleased. He said to the boy: "I know why you
are silent. You know God is beyond thought and speech
and that it's silly to try and say anything about
Him. This is why you are are keeping quiet. I appreciate
your silence."
Sri Ramakrishna was born at at a time when scholars
everywhere were debating about God. They debated
about his existence and also what he was like. Yet
they were people who had never taken religion seriously.
They had never practiced it, and they had never
had any direct, personal experience of God. Sri
Ramakrishna was greatly amused listening to them.
They were like blind people trying to describe an
elephant. They were themselves blind, and yet they
were trying to lead other blind people. "The
proof of the pudding is in the eating." You
cannot talk about God unless you've had a direct,
personal experience of God. "To know God is
to be God." This is all Sri Ramakrishna preached.
And this is all that religions preach.
Swami Lokeswarananda
