THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT, AS IT STANDS, today, has passed through a very
significant sequence of unfoldment It has its source in Sri Ramakrishna who was
the very embodiment of eternal spiritual principles and the highest moral
values. He simply lived an intense God-centred life and did nothing apparently
spectacular, to initiate a movement except train a band of disciples. Swami
Vivekananda, the foremost among his disciples, took upon himself the task of
spreading the Master's ideas and ideals for the good of humanity.
But the path was not easy.
Swamiji had to first clear many hurdles. Even within him there was conflict. He
was the eldest male member of the family and after the untimely death of his
father, his mother and younger brothers were dependent on him. If, for the sake
of the propagation of Sri Ramakrishna's message, he were to renounce the world,
his mother and brothers might die of starvation. After intense heart wrenching
conflict, he decided to renounce. Of those agonizing days he later spoke thus:
I had to stand between my two worlds. On the one hand, I
would have to see my mother and brothers starve unto death. On the other, I had
believed that this man's ideas were for the good of India and the world, and
had to be preached and worked out And so the ftght went on in my mind for days
and months. Sometimes I would pray for five or six days and nights together
without stopping. Oh, the agony of those days!'1
As a wandering monk,
Swamiji noticed that poverty and ignorance had covered the length and breadth
of India, and the whole country was steeped in extreme inertia. At the end of
his wanderings he reached Kanya Kumari and, sitting on the Rock, meditated on
the condition of the nation, and later left for USA. His success in USA caused
a stir of awakening in India. After returning to India, he delivered his
'rousing call' to the nation through lectures from Colombo to Almora, and
through his fiery letters and animated conversations.
But when his brother-disciples heard his message, they were shocked. Was
this the message of their Master? Was it for this that he had done the supreme
sacrifice and left his mother and brothers helpless to face starvation? What
has happened to the young God-intoxicated Narendra, who aspired to remain merged
in nirvikalpa-samadhi like Shukdev? and who, for this very purpose, had
wanted to learn yoga from Pavahari Baba? Now he is not talking of God
realization at all, but of raising the masses, of spreading education and of
starting relief works!
Indeed, there is an
apparent and distinct difference between the recorded teachings of Swami Vivekananda
and of Sri Ramakrishna I which had confused his brother-disciples and continues
to confuse many even now. Sri Ramakrishna has repeatedly preached that God-realization
is the ultimate goal of life, and that one must gradually reduce one's activities
and devote more and more time for contemplation of God. Karma Yoga is very difficult
in this Iron age and Bhakti is more suitable, and so on. It was therefore but natural
for Swami Vivekananda's brother disciples, used as they were to listen to such teachings
of the Master, to feel alarmed when they heard Swami Vivekananda speak
something quite different. But so great was their love and respect for, and
their faith in, him that after making protests, they rallied behind him in the
social welfare activities initiated by him, even though they might not have
been fully convinced, or able to reconcile the words of the Master and his
foremost disciple.
In 1902 Swami Vivekananda
passed away. But his message had already spread. It was greedily accepted by the
freedom fighters and the future leaders of India, almost all of whom were
inspired by his message. Swamiji had urged Indians to make Mother India their only
adored goddess for the next fifty years!2
And indeed, within fifty years of
Swamiji's call, India attained freedom. In the meantime, the Gospel of Sri
Ramakrishna started appearing in serial volumes in Bengali and the Master's
central teaching that God-realization is the goal of life to be attained
through renunciation and intense yearning, started gradually spreading. Now, of
course, Sri Ramakrishna has become a household deity and the Gospel is
read as widely as the Bhagavad Gita and the Ramayana. Only recently two lakh copies
of the subsidized edition of the Gospel in Bengali were sold within two
months in Calcutta. Also, 12th January, the birthday of Swami Vivekananda, has
been declared the National Youth Day, paving the way for the spread of
Swamiji's message among the youth.
Thus most people in India
today know about Swami Vivekananda and his teachings. People also know about
Sri Ramakrishna and accord him worship. But very few know about the Holy Mother
Sri Sarada Devi and her unique role in the Ramakrishna Movement. Even while she
was alive, she had always lived reserved. Herself extremely shy, she was
encouraged to remain reserved by Sri Ramakrishna, who virtually treasured her like
a precious jewel, and kept her concealed from the vulgar eye of the common
people. Even many of the devotees and disciples of Sri Ramakrishna were
ignorant of her greatness and considered her merely the wife of their Master.
Those who knew about her spiritual eminence, did not consider it proper to
disclose it. They probably thought that it was enough if people could know
about the Master and Swamiji and mould their lives according to their
teachings. Only after her Birth Centenary in 1953, people have come to know
about her life and teachings through a number of books and articles.
But now, the Holy Mother
is revealing herself on her own, as it were. During her lifetime, even while
remaining concealed, people from far off places would go to her residences at
Jairambati and Udbodhan, drawn by her irresistible unseen attraction. So also
today, people, scorched in the fire of worldliness, are being attracted towards
her, especially in the West, where they are impressed more by the Mother's life
and teachings than those of the Master or Swamiji. Indeed, the time has come
when Mother's message: 'Learn to make the whole world your own,'3
and her soothing, loving and affectionate personality are made known to more
and more people.
2
From the above brief
survey of the sequence of the unfoldment of the message of Sri Ramakrishna,
Swami Vivekananna and the Holy Mother, it would be clear that India and the
world at large got introduced first to Swami Vivekananda and his message. Next,
being inquisitive about the Master of such an illustrious disciple, they learnt
about Sri Ramakrishna and his teachings as recorded in the Gospel of Sri
Ramakrishna. And finally, people are now gradually getting drawn towards the Mother and her teachings. This sequence
is deeply significant.
As we have seen, the
mission of Swami Vivekananda's life was to spread the ambrosial teachings of
Sri Ramakrishna, his Master, for the greatest good of the greatest number. But
as he travelled from one end of the country to the other, he was shocked by the
appalling poverty, ignorance and inertia of the masses. He realized that
India's primary need was not religion but bread. He remembered his Master's
words: 'Religion is not for the hungry.'4 To preach religion instead of offering food to
the hungry was an insult to them. He therefore came to the conclusion that India's
needs were food and education.
There was another reason
for shifting emphasis from spiritual to secular education for the Indian
masses, who were steeped in inertia, tamoguna. If dull persons were
given spiritual instructions, they were likely to fall all the more into
inertia, all the while thinking that they were highly spiritually evolved. For,
as Swamiji pointed out, extremes of inactivity and activity, tamoguna and
sattvaguna look alike, though they are poles apart. Swamiji knew that to
be able to rightly appreciate and put into practice Sri Ramakrishna's
teachings, one must be at least energetic and active (rajoguna), if one
has not already reached the state of tranquillity (sattvaguna). Sri
Ramakrishna preached, either to householders actively engaged in fulfilling
their duties in life or to young, energetic, promising college students. His
disciples included students, teachers, lawyers, doctors, dramatists, writers, government
officials, etc. who were mostly successful in their worldly pursuits. He never
preached to persons deeply engrossed in sense-enjoyments or too dull and apathetic.
He just avoided them. If ever such people came to him, he would tell them to go
and see the buildings. To the group of active, successful householders, Sri
Ramakrishna taught nivritti i.e. gradual withdrawal from worldly activity
and contemplation of God. He, for example, dissuaded Adhar Sen, a high Government
official, from aspiring for a still higher post5 and, asked
Shambhu Mallik to give up his desire to build schools and hospitals.6
His instructions were meant to lead them
to the next step of spirituality. In other words, Swami Vivekananda's task was
to prepare the ground for the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna by arousing the dull
and apathetic people and to make them active.
One can rise to nivritti i.e. renunciation and withdrawal only through pravritti-activity.7
Swamiji's teachings are thus, not contradictory,
but complementary and in a way preliminary and introductory to Sri
Ramakrishna's. It is, therefore, rightly said that one cannot truly grasp Sri
Ramakrishna's teachings without thoroughly going through the Works of Swami
Vivekananda.
What about the Holy
Mother's message? Why was its unfoldment delayed? And why is it proving more
attractive and fulfilling now? She is not a 'warrior-saint' like Swami Vivekananda,
nor a sage merged in the quiet of
samadhi like Sri Ramakrishna. She is intensely active in her own way and yet supremely
calm and serene, with no external expression of her spiritual brilliance. She
is as it were, a goddess established in a state beyond the three gunas: gunatita.
Her message too, transcends the messages of Swami Vivekananda and Sri
Ramakrishna. In one word, it is 'love'. 'Learn to make the whole world your
own. No one is a stranger, my child the whole world is your own,' she would
say. We can make strangers our own only when we are ourselves contented and have
a sense of fulfilment. It is not possible for one who has to struggle for
existence, nor for one who is too anxious for his or her personal salvation.
They alone can truly love, who, having followed Sri Ramakrishna's instructions,
have obtained spiritual illumination and are established, at least to some extent,
in inner peace and contentment.
The Mother has a message
also for those who are scorched in the fire of worldliness. They are so feeble
that they cannot arise at Swami Vivekananda's call. Even if they rise and
struggle, they are not able to succeed either due to personal weaknesses or due
to the grinding cruelty of the society. Where can they get shelter, except in
the affectionate lap of the Mother? She is beckoning them lovingly to come to
her lap. She is making them fearless: 'Don't fear so long as I am your
mother."8 'Remember always that there is one behind you,
who will come to you at the right moment and lead you to the everlasting domain.'9
Then there are those who
are active but restless and consequently unhappy. They have plenty but feel
lonely and lost. In spite of being a part of the society, they feel alienated.
The Mother showers peace on them too. Scientific advancements, especially in
the West, have made people all the more miserable. That's why westerners feel
such an attraction for the serene personality and soothing words of the Mother.
Her message is also for those incompetent spiritual aspirants who cannot renounce
everything for God and build up intense yearning as advised by Sri Ramakrishna.
The Mother consoles and assures them: How much after-all, can you do? Do what
little spiritual practice you can. I shall do the rest. Or, 'You need not do
anything. I am doing everything for you.'10
Thus, in a way, the Holy
Mother's message is the culmination and fulfilment of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami
Vivekananda's messages. Its unfoldment in the end, too, is significant and
reasonable. Its profundity too can be gauged against the background of the two
former messages. That her message of love surpasses the message of action of Swamiji
and of renunciation and realization of the Master is even corroborated by
events in real life. Time and again Sri Ramakrishna had to withdraw his
instructions in the face of the Mother's all-encompassing love for his
disciples and devotees. Swamiji too had to bow down before her wishes.11
3
We have, for our
discussion's sake differentiated between the messages of Sri Ramakrishna, the
Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda and have tried to prove this by the
chronological sequence of their unfoldment. Even the difference in their
personalities seems to justify it. But their messages are not mutually
exclusive. It is not that Sri Ramakrishna did not ever speak of service or encourage
it at all. Nor is it true that the Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda did not stress
renunciation and realization. In the West Swamiji preached the Vedantic message
of realization of the Self through renunciation and discrimination. It is
equally true that although he desired material progress for India, he advised flooding
her with spiritual ideas before flooding her with social or political ideas.
And yet the emphasis of these three personalities on three different sets of
teachings cannot be denied.
The fact is that these
three holy personalities form, like a trimurti, the parts of a single personality
and the three different messages, the parts of a single message. It is a Three-in-One
ideal. It is a multi-faceted message capable of assuming various patterns
according to different times, persons and social situations. It can satisfy the
needs of all times and places.
One thing more. When we
state that Swamiji's rousing call was for one specific type of persons or
society and the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna for another, we erroneously assume
that individuals and societies are static units. Actually they are dynamic
entities, constantly changing and evolving. A dull, ignorant person of today
would become active, energetic and learned tomorrow. He or she might later
become large-hearted and affectionate. With the change in the nature of
individual or society, their needs also change. Initially one might require Swamiji's
forceful thrust to get over inertia and lethargy. Later, however, it would
probably be right to renounce and struggle for God-realization, as advised by
Sri Ramakrishna. And finally, as one would get a sense of fulfilment and the heart
would expand, one might, like the Holy Mother, be prompted in the fullness of
heart to make the whole world one's own through love, sympathy and service.
This idea is beautifully expressed in a Sanskrit couplet:
Durjano Sajjano Bhuyat Sajjano shantim aapnuyat
Shanto muchyate bandhebhya Muktacha Anyan Vimochayet
May the wicked become virtuous. May the virtuous attain tranquility. May
the tranquil be free from bonds. May the freed make others free.'12
Let us therefore examine
where we stand and what are our and society's needs. A hundred years ago
Swamiji gave his clarion call to rouse India. Since then India has progressed
materially and education has spread among the masses. But still there are many
areas which need to be developed. Then there are those who no more need to
struggle for existence. Let them move forward and learn a lesson or two in renunciation
and love. The developed countries, for example, are suffering from the malady
of affluence. People in those countries need to learn to withdraw, resort to nivritti,
as it is called. Their tempo of life must be slowed down, they must reduce
their wants and needs and learn to feel that all are their own and that none is
a stranger.
As the title suggests,
this Three-in-One ideal has various parts, and at the same time it is a
composite whole too. It is important to understand it in parts, and it is
equally important to grasp its unified, composite, and, in the modern jargon,
holistic aspect. This has become all the more imperative as the years roll by.
Notes & References
1. CW, Vol 8, p 81
2. CW, Vol 3, P 300
3. Swami Tapasy,Inanda, Sri Sarada Devi, The Holy Mother (Madras, Sri
Ramakrishna Math, 1995), pp 312-313.
4.
Letters of Swami Vivekananda (Calcutta Advaita Ashrama, 1976) pp 81-82
5. Gospel, (1997) p 518.
6. Ibid, p. 143.
7. cf Bhagvad Gita, VI 3, III 4.
8. Swami Gambhirananda, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi (Madras, Sri
Ramakrishna Math, 1993) p 399.
9. Ibid, p 401.
10. Ibid, p 397.
11. Three examples are being cited.
1. Many young devotees used to spend their nights at
Dakshineswar practicing spiritual disciplines under the guidance of Sri Ramakrishna.
Since over-eating hinders concentration of mind, Sri Ramakrishna had fixed the
quota of chapatis each one must eat at night and had instructed the Holy Mother
accordingly. When, however, one day he found that Baburam had eaten more
chapatis and that the Mother was responsible for it, he remonstrated with her
and tried to Impress that due to her affection, the spiritual growth of the devotees
would suffer. But the Mother protested, 'Why do you get upset because he has
eaten two chapattis more? I shall look after the spiritual well-being of the
devotees. Please do not inerfere in the matter of their eating.' The Master
kept quiet. Ibid, p 128.
2. One night, when Ihe Mother was carrying the plate of
Sri Ramakrishna's food to him, a lady suddenly took it from her hands saying, 'Give
It to me Mother, give It to me.' She placed it before the Master and left. The Master
sat down for his meal, but could not touch the food, and looking at the Mother,
said, 'Why did you give the plate to her? Don't you know she is Immoral?m How
can I ear what has been defiled by her?' 'I know that,' Mother replied, 'but do
take food tonight .' 'Then promise that you won't hand it over to anyone else
hereafter,' the Master said. With joined palms the Mother replied,' That I
cannot, Master! I shall certainly bring
your food myself, but If anyone begs me
by calling me "Mother," I shouldn't be able to contain
myself'. The Master kept quiet. - Ibid, p 84.
3. A servant was sacked by Swami Vivekananda from the
Belur Math for theft. The poor man went to Udbodhan and took shelter under the
Holy Mother. That very day when Swami Premananda happened to go there to pay his
respects to her, she said, 'Look here, Baburam, this man is very poor. Impelled
by poverty, he has stolen. This world is full of misery. You are monks, who
realize it very little. Take him back'. Swami Premananda told that it would
displease Swami Vivekananda. At this the Mother said emphatically, 'I say, take
him.' When Swami Vivekananda saw Swami Premananda entering the Math with the
servant at dusk, he remarked, 'Look at Baburam. He has brought the fellow back'.
When, however, Swami Premananda said that the Mother had asked him to take him
back, he kept quiet.― Ibid, p. 370.
12.
Swami Yatiswarananda, (Comp) Universal Prayers (Madras
Ramakrishna Math, 1993) verse 312, p 241.
