Ramakrishna (was: Realization (was: Mie/Smadhi/ Drugs)

[Guest guest]

, "eblack101" <EBlackstead@c...> wrote:

> Mike, Greg & Friends,

>

> In line with the messages below, when Shri Ramakrishna was asked by a

> devotee who had recently come into contact with the teachings of

> Theosophy, if there were subtle beings who served as our teachers and

> masters on otner plains, Ramakrishna answered, "If you can believe

> me, Yes." In all the writings and direct quotes attributed to

> Ramakrishna, especially in the Gospel of Ramakrishna by "M", this is

> the ohnly mention that I can remember in which he alludes

> to "levels", as all his emphasis was centered on the direct

> experience of the Self as Kali.

>

> Yours in the bonds,

> eric

 

I wouldn't put it in quite the same terms Eric. Ramakrishna

emphasized the understanding that Kali was the Mother of all

experience and realization, not that we experience Her as the

Self.

 

He recommended that bhakti was the easiest path, and that the

sincere devotee of the Lord will be carried to realization by

their devotion.

 

However, the direct experience of the Self is, and can only

be a direct experience of the Self. Kali represents the

container and generator of all experience for the individual,

but the Self rests outside of and in support of this.

 

Ramakrishna taught that Brahman and Shakti were like fire and

its power to burn, but he didn't subsume everything down to

Kali. This statement shows the unity of reality but also

allows one to see that there is a binary aspect that comes

into play in the sphere of manifestation.

 

With regards to planes and levels. Both Ramakrishna and

especially Vivekananda ignored these in their teachings,

as they understood that such were completely unnecessary

and superfluous to a sincere spiritual seeker.