Ramakrishna (1836–1886) was a 19th-century Indian mystic whose teachings form the foundation of the Ramakrishna religious movement, Ramakrishna Order and Ramakrishna Mission.Children of Immortality. The Ramakrishna Movement with Special Emphasis on the South African Context by Anil SooklalSwami Atmajnanananda
Religious views
Ultimate reality
Swami Medhananda, Head of the Department of Philosophy at the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, who holds a doctorate in philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley, published a book-length philosophical interpretation of Ramakrishna's teachings with the Oxford University Press in 2018. Maharaj argues that "Ramakrishna's spiritual standpoint of vijnana holds the key to understanding his nuanced position on religious diversity", and his analysis of Ramakrishna "combines detailed exegesis with cross-cultural philosophical investigation". Pratap Bhanu Mehta characterized Maharaj's book, Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality, as "philosophically astute [and] textually scrupulous", a work that defends
Christianity At the end of 1873 Ramakrishna started the practice of Christianity, when his devotee Shambu Charan Mallik read the Bible to him. According to Swami Saradananda's biography Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master, Ramakrishna was filled with Christian thoughts for three days and no longer thought of going to the Kali temple. Ramakrishna described a vision in which a picture of the Madonna and Child became alive, and he had a vision in which Jesus merged with his body. In his own room amongst other divine pictures was one of Christ, and he burnt incense before it morning and evening. There was also a picture showing Jesus Christ saving St Peter from drowning in the water.Parama Roy, Indian Traffic: Identities in Question in Colonial and Post-Colonial India Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998 Western Admirers of Ramakrishna and His Disciples, Gopal Stavig, 2010, Ramakrishna regarded Jesus as "the great Yogi". Ramakrishna's teachings and personality have been studied from the point of Christianity by scholars such as Romain Rolland and Paul Hourihan. Another book, Ramakrishna & Christ, the Supermystics: New Interpretations compares the life and spiritual beliefs of Ramakrishna with that of Jesus Christ. Francis X Clooney, a Roman Catholic priest and member of the Society of Jesus, writes that Ramakrishna's vision of Christ, "shows Christians like myself a way to respond to the mystery, beauty and holiness of non-Christian religious experiences". Religious scholar D.S. Sarma and Romain Rolland have noted similarities between Ramakrishna's mystic experiences and other religious personalities—St. Paul, Henry Suso—a German mystic of the 14th century, Richard Rolle of Hampole, and St. Teresa of Avila.
Islam Swami Saradananda's biography Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master says that in 1866, Govinda Roy, a Hindu guru who practised Sufism, initiated Ramakrishna into Islam, and that he practiced Islam for three days. During this practice, Ramakrishna had a vision of a luminous figure, and Swami Nikhilananda's biography of Ramakrishna speculates that the figure was 'perhaps Mohammed'.The vision recorded by Swami Saradananda has some variants in different texts and biographies.Jeffrey J. Kripal (1995), Kali's Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna. First edition. University of Chicago Press.Swarup, Ram, Ramakrishna Mission.(1986). Ramakrishna Mission: In search of a new identity. According to these accounts, Ramakrishna "devoutly repeated the name of Allah, wore a cloth like the Arab Muslims, said their prayer five times daily, and felt disinclined even to see images of the Hindu gods and goddesses, much less worship them—for the Hindu way of thinking had disappeared altogether from my mind." After three days of practice he had a vision of a "radiant personage with grave countenance and white beard resembling the Prophet and merging with his body". According to Kripal, this "would have been a heretical experience through and through" for most Muslims.
Ramakrishna's teachings and experiences have been studied from the perspective of Islam, and compared with teachings of the Sufi saints, by scholars like A. J. A. Tyeb. Tyeb notes that Ramakrishna's sadhana of meditating alone at night in the forest for several days is similar to the 19th century mystic, Sayed Sah Murshid Ali Quaderi. Tyeb writes that Ramakrishna's prayer to the goddess Kali is similar to that of Rabia, who is described as 'a woman who lost herself in union with the Divine'. Tyeb also writes that Al Muhasibi, a 9th-century Sufi of Baghdad, spoke of meditation in the same way as Ramakrishna did. Bhawuk, in his journal, Culture's influence on creativity: the case of Indian spirituality wrote that Ramakrishna's contribution to humanity is significant for the world after the bombing of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Bhawuk writes that Islam is not to be blamed for the September 11 attacks, and no religion should be blamed for any act of terrorism, because the life of Ramakrishna proclaims that all religions lead to the same God.
Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda, who would in time become Ramakrishna's most ardent and prominent disciple, initially viewed Ramakrishna's ecstasy as pathological, questioned his qualification of Kali as the "mother of universe", and did not accept him as an avatara. Vivekananda regarded the Advaitist Vedantism of identity with the Absolute as blasphemy and madness. After a period of revolt, Ramakrishna was accepted as a guru.
Referring to the practice of Madhura Bhava, by his guru, in a speech in 1896, My Master, Vivekananda said,
Referring to the teaching of Kama-Kanchana, Vivekananda said,
Speaking briefly about Sri Ramakrishna at the end of his talk - 'The Sages of India', he said
Romain Rolland In his book The Life of Ramakrishna (1929), Romain Rolland, argues that Ramakrishna's experiences were not pathological. Rolland also argues the inapplicability of psychoanalysis on Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda and other mystics. Rolland had correspondence with Freud. In his letter of 5 December 1927, Rolland indicated that he was researching a book on the Hindu saints Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. The references to Freud and psychoanalysis in these books are considered as direct response to Civilization and Its Discontents.Fisher, "Sigmund Freud and Romain Rolland: The Terrestrial Animal and His Great Oceanic Friend", p. 29,Werman, "Sigmund Freud and Romain Rolland", p. 236
Leo Schneiderman Leo Schneiderman in his work, Ramakrishna: Personality and Social Factors in the Growth of a Religious Movement (1969) argues that Ramakrishna's "bizarre" behaviour (samadhi) must be judged within its proper cultural context. According to Schneiderman, since Ramakrishna was a Brahmin priest who combined the performance of traditional religious functions with demonstrations of divine possession, especially in samādhi, he could appeal to a wide clientele, and he was both an exemplar of Redfield's "great tradition" of Hinduism, and of village shamanism, sublimated to a very high plane. Schneiderman argues that Ramakrishna's trances and other dramatic manifestations, including perhaps, even his psychotic behaviour, were not truly aberrations from the standpoint of the non-Sanskritic popular culture.
Walter G. Neevel In the 1976 essay, "The Transformation of Sri Ramakrishna", Walter G. Neevel argues that Ramakrishna's life went through three "transformations". The first—the transformation of the "madman" of the early years to the benign, saintly figure of the later years—appears to have been brought about more by shifting public opinion than personal spiritual progression. According to Neevel, the second and third transformations reflect not historically verifiable ideas or events in the life of the saint but myth-making and misrepresentation, often by his most intimate followers and disciples. Neevel argues that the saint is incorrectly depicted as an advaitin of the Sankarite school.
Amiya Prosad Sen argues that Neevel's essay overlooks certain problems. Neevel does not place the ascriptions of Ramakrishna as an advaitin or vedantin in the historical context of Indian philosophy, as did Western-educated intelligentsia like Ram Mohan Roy. Amiya Sen writes that contrary to what Neevel suggests, "the maddened state of Ramakrishna" during his early practice is described by the Vivekachudamani, an advaitic text as one of the spiritually exalted states. Sen further writes that "Vivekananda derived the social service gospel under direct inspiration from Ramakrishna rests very substantially on the liminal quality of the Master's message". Neevel attributes Ramakrishna's ability to lapse into trance was largely due to his aesthetic and emotional sensitivity.
Ramana Maharshi A few of Ramana Maharshi's words regarding Ramakrishna are recorded in the book, Talks with Ramana Maharshi. When asked if Ramakrishna could really have seen Kali's image to be alive, he replied that it was Ramakrishna's 'own vital force which manifested as if it were outside and drew him in.' Psychoanalysis and sexuality
Ramakrishna's personality and actions have been a popular topic of psychological analysis by scholars and writers, especially in the Western world. In addition to his mystical experiences, much attention has been paid to his attitudes towards sexuality and the role of sex in his philosophical and religious views. Some of these studies have been extremely controversial.
Dr. Jeanne Openshaw In 1995, Dr. Jeanne Openshaw, a senior lecturer in Religious Studies who specializes in the area of Bengali Vaishnavism and Culture, argued that the behaviour or religious practices of Ramakrishna are not necessarily abnormal. Openshaw writes that from the context of devotional Bengali Vaishnavism, where femininity represents the highest attainable condition, the cultivation of femininity by men in various ways is not necessarily abnormal, nor can it be taken as a sign of homosexuality. Openshaw writes that in rural Bengal, male celibacy, and conservation of semen are considered important. Openshaw argues that Ramakrishna's attempt to see all women as mothers rather than as sexual partners, cannot be seen in terms of homoerotic tendencies.
Alan Roland