Sri Ramakrishna Math : The Vedanta Kesari, Thy Formless Beauty Sparkles in the Dark

After a deep study of the lower knowledge and all the reaches of it, the Mundaka Upanishad speaks of the knowability of the formless Brahman. Though this idea is somewhat difficult to comprehend, yet it is the only way to indicate a transcendental Reality. Introducing his commentary on the first verse of the second canto (of the Second Mundaka), Shankara says: 'The question how the formless Brahman can be known, is being answered.' The Upanishad speaks of the effulgence and nearness of Brahman, and Its being the inmost Self of all. How does it justify the knowability of the formless?

Let us try to understand the teaching. Suppose in a group, in the course of a discussion, a reference is made to one Krishna whom none in the group has ever seen physically. But some members of the group know many of his traits or attributes such as, he is an engineer, he is married to so and so, he lives in such and such town, he is 28 years of age, and so on and so forth. Someone else says that he is one of the two children of such and such parents. These are all the attributes by which he may be referred to. Yet no one in the group has the right to say, 'I am Krishna', which is a right reserved for Krishna and Krishna alone, in whom the experiencer 'I' merges in the name 'Krishna'. The attributes are the formless representation of Krishna until he is seen with his form. But, in reality, the attributes are limiting adjuncts by which Krishna is differentiated from others. Though in a similar way the formless Brahman has some identifying characteristics by which It can be inferred, the attributes of Brahman are not Its limiting adjuncts! Here lies the difference between the Jivas and the Infinite Being. It is effulgent (avih), but Its effulgence is not a derived one--it is absolute. It is near (sannihitam), but the nearness is not a differentiation--it is oneness.

There is a song that says: 'O Mother, in pitch darkness sparkles all thy beauty.' Until one is able to wholly comprehend something, the attributes shine as the representative of the thing. The Taittiriya Aranyaka1 speaks of It as a bright streak of lightning in the bosom of dense blue rain-cloud (nila-toyada-madhyastha vidyullekha-iva-bhasvara). Similarly, the attributes of the Formless sparkle in the midst of our ignorance about Brahman. Sri Ramakrishna used to tell a parable about a chameleon. Many have seen it in various colours, but the person who lives under the tree on which the chameleon stays knows still more: he says, 'It changes colours, and at times it is even colourless.' God has many forms, but He is, at the same time, Formless. To have discovered this holistic truth is the speciality of Sri Ramakrishna.

Our approach to godhead is, unfortunately, very dogmatic. Because of this weakness in most of us, we find rivalry among the gods even. Sri Ramakrishna used many names to refer to the one God. The words bhagavan (God) or Ma (Mother) were his favourites. They are general terms by which God can be referred to. And most significantly, he equated the motherhood and fatherhood of God with the one Reality, Brahman. The same principle has been spoken of as male and female. To him Brahman and Shakti are one and the same. At the same time, he wanted to taste the particular realizations that others encounter while approaching and reaching god through their paths. It is because god-realization was his sole aim in life. Let us listen to what Sri Ramakrishna teaches in this respect: 'I see people who talk about religion constantly quarrelling with one another. Hindus, Mussalmans, Brahmos, Shaktas, Vaishnavas, Shaivas, all quarrel with one another. They haven't the intelligence to understand that He who is called Krishna is also Shiva and the Primal Shakti, and that it is He, again, who is called Jesus and Allah&. Truth is one; only It is called by different names. All people are seeking the same Truth; the variance is due to climate, temperament, and name.'2 The highest and the most open philosophy about Reality has been, for once in the history of mankind, put to practice by one authority, Sri Ramakrishna. 'My Father's house has many mansions,' says Christ. Saint Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus, said, 'Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, "To an unknown god." What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything. And he made from one every nation of men to live on the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us, for "In him we live and move and have our being"; as even some of your poets have said, "For we are indeed his offspring."'3 'All paths, O Arjuna, lead to Me,' says Sri Krishna. Nanak sings, 'Whoever realizes the will of the Lord, He will find out the Lord's secret.'4 Statements as these are true to one who is sincere in the pursuit of God-realization. All roads lead to Rome, provided Rome is our destination.

Yet there is an outstanding contribution of Sri Ramakrishna. After having verified the veracity of it all, he finds that in the highest plane of realization there is no God even; it transcends all duality and is beyond. This achievement requires a tremendous force called renunciation. Renunciation is not in the sense of suppression or abandonment, but channelizing or orienting the kinetic forces towards the goal. In order to reach a place one may discard other routes and take up the most beneficial route. The thrust is on 'selection' and not on 'abandonment'.

The Holy Mother once assessed the purpose of Sri Ramakrishna's advent as an Incarnation for the Age in the following words: 'Renunciation is the special characteristic of Sri Ramakrishna.' The Upanishads exhort humanity saying: 'By renunciation one attains to Immortality.' Swamiji added one word 'alone' after the word 'renunciation' in the sentence. This has attained an 'applied' status in the life of Sri Ramakrishna. He used the phrase 'renunciation of lust and gold' to give orientation to our unbridled desires which are not only harmful to others but also to us. Cupid has lost his form in the fire of Shiva's eyes and has taken shelter in the minds of people as formless desires. Sri Ramakrishna shows a way to burn these desires, in the flame of renunciation. Even though his system underwent complete change after the vision of God at the culmination of his sadhanas, it retained the reflex of renunciation throughout. We can remember how he refused to accept the donation of ten thousand rupees offered by Seth Laxmi-narayanji in those days. By keeping a coin under Sri Ramakrishna's mattress, Narendranath verified, among many other such tests, the veracity of the former's teaching about renunciation of money. No sooner had Sri Ramakrishna sat on the bed than his body felt excruciating pain as one feels after having been stung by a scorpion! Even as one turns the pages of Sri Ramakrishna's Gospel, one is sure to catch a glimpse of the extra-ordinariness of Sri Ramakrishna in this respect. This one aspect of his life is more than sufficient to lead today's strife-torn world on to a safe highway of life. Our ignorance about the definition of God, our greed for acquiring more than what is required, and the resultant fear, disbelief, hatred and terrorization, all will be metamorphosed and cured with the magic touch of this one value.

Even as the world knows Sri Rama-krishna as the greatest of the 'devotional mystics' [This is the phrase that is used by the most cautious philosophers now-a-days.] that humanity has so far produced, it also knows that he is the only one who was able to transcend the limitations of all duality. He was a non-dual mystic par excellence! A devotee, who mingled his own being into that of the Divine Mother, did not hesitate to sacrifice the image (form) of the same beloved Mother in order to ascend to the highest Truth. And, wonder of wonders, this gracious Divine Mother Herself gave him Her consent in the pursuit! What type of renunciation is it that we are talking about?! Well, we do not know how to express our wonder at this kind of renunciation that has a mutual understanding between the renouncer and the object to be renounced! The phrase 'divine discontent' and Sri Ramakrishna's discovery that Brahman and Its Power are one, find their true end and meaning in this renunciation. In the end Sri Ramakrishna merges himself in the Reality of transcendent Brahman leaving behind him a bright trail, which, even if emulated partially, will make life fulfilled, and our living as humans fruitful.

Let us read how Swamiji explains it: 'To manifest the Infinite through the finite is impossible, and sooner or later we learn to give up the attempt to express the Infinite through the finite. This giving up, this renunciation of the attempt, is the background of ethics. Renunciation is the very basis upon which ethics stands. There never was an ethical code preached which had not renunciation for its basis.'5 Will this be called an awareness? No. Awareness is psychological, circumscribed by the limits of the mind. But the scriptures speak about an 'awakening' (jagrata, the Katha-Upanishad), waking up to the real nature of our being. A dreaming person may be aware in his dream that she/he has been dreaming, yet he/she lacks wakefulness.6 Sri Ramakrishna arises there before our vision uttering the most precious blessings, 'May you all be spiritually awakened', his hand raised in benediction.

The world is full of numerous gods and goddesses. What is the necessity of adding one more God in the name of Sri Ramakrishna to this list?

Romain Rolland speaks of Sri Ramakrishna as 'the consummation of two thousand years of the spiritual life of three hundred million people.' He is like the hub of a chariot wheel (ratha nabhi) on which all the spokes (ara) are transfixed. In him all the warring gods and goddesses have found unity. He is the name of this consummation for this age even as Om is the name of Brahman. No exclusiveness has been entertained in his being. His is the name of a grand principle suited to the needs of regeneration of the present age. The essence of Sri Rama's mission against the lustful Ravana and that of Sri Krishna's mission against Kauravas' greed for land have been mingled into one phrase 'renunciation of lust and gold' by their latest and combined incarnation called Sri-Rama-Krishna. He made the divine principles practical in his life, and that is why he is the best representation of all that is divine in creation. Lest someone should term this assertion as dogmatic, we point out that it is an assertion of a non-dogmatic principle and personification.

Sri Ramakrishna used the example of King Janaka as one who was a knower of Brahman and, at the same time, a karma-yogi. Janaka used simultaneously the sword of knowledge or discrimination to cut asunder the attachment (growing out of lust or desire which goads people to undertake action) and the sword of karma (karma yoga) which obliterates the desire for emoluments (ultimately measured by the standard of gold). Sri Ramakrishna, it seems, advised people to use these two swords in the form of sharpened intellect (agryaya budhya) to destroy these two curses of the present age.

Bringing out the implications of Sri Ramakrishna's teachings, Swamiji said that by following Sri Ramakrishna, a Christian will be a better Christian, a Muslim a better Muslim and a Hindu a better Hindu. Concluding his lecture on Hinduism, Swamiji said, 'The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.'7

Sri Ramakrishna affirmed the Rig Vedic declaration of Ekam sat viprah bahudha vadanti in modern pragmatic language: jata mat tata path: As many faiths, so many paths. It seems, this is the lesson we all should learn to live happily in this strife-torn world of ours. Our exclusive philosophies about a god with limited power and compassion, our weakness to face reasoning, our unqualified allegiance to god's delegates, our belief about a reward of bounteous material enjoyments in a place called heaven--all such wrong understandings will find themselves swept away in the effulgence of Sri Ramakrishna. His luminosity brightens the path through the darkness of worldliness (avidya, ignorance or sin), where even the lights of the sun and the moon have been denied admittance.

All roads that lead to God are good;
What matters it, your faith or mine;
Both centre at the goal divine
Of Love's eternal brotherhood.

1. Taittiriya Aranyaka, 4:10:13.
2. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1996) Vols.2. 1:423.
3. The Bible, Acts 17.22-28.
4. Adi Granth, Ramkali, M5, p.885.
5. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 1984), Vols 8. 2:62. Hereafter, CW.
6. Cf. Swami Hariharananda Aranya on Vyasa's commentary, Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali, 1:38.
7. CW 1:24.