Guest guest Posted November 17, 2004 Report Share Posted November 17, 2004 I would like to recount some stories about Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1839-1889). For those of you who do not know who he was, he was a God-Realized saint (as was his wife Shri Sarada Devi) of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple outside Calcutta. He was also the guru of the better-known Swami Vivekananda, who was originally known as Narendra. The young Narendra had talked to many holy men and asked them "Have you seen God?" None was able to give a satisfactory answer. But Ramakrishna answered immediately. "Yes, I have. Not only that; I see Him much more vividly and much more clearly than I see you." According to the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, religion is a completely personal experience. God should be known, not merely accepted as an intellectual belief. Often we hear that "Seeing is believing". There is absolutely NO reason why this cannot be true in relation to God. Yet this is a startling or blasphemous idea to many. Probably the young Narendra was startled to hear this definite statement among so many vague ones, and decided he must find out whether this was a madman, or one who held the secret for which he had been searching. Like any good scientific mind, he took up and continued his association with Sri Ramakrishna until he verified for himself that astonishing statement "I see God, and see also that He is more real than you who I see with my physical eyes." Lilith M. Meet the all-new My - Try it today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 18, 2004 Report Share Posted November 18, 2004 Thanks for this beautiful and informative story Lilith, :-) Do you mind if I share it with a few others? Btw, I got my Kali postcards thanks for the link. Blessings of the Goddess, Cathie In a message dated 11/17/2004 6:12:29 PM Mountain Standard Time, sephirah5 writes: > I would like to recount some stories about Sri > Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1839-1889). For those of you > who do not know who he was, he was a God-Realized > saint (as was his wife Shri Sarada Devi) of the > Dakshineswar Kali Temple outside Calcutta. He was also > the guru of the better-known Swami Vivekananda, who > was originally known as Narendra. The young Narendra > had talked to many holy men and asked them "Have you > seen God?" None was able to give a satisfactory > answer. But Ramakrishna answered immediately. "Yes, I > have. Not only that; I see Him much more vividly and > much more clearly than I see you." > According to the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, > religion is a completely personal experience. God > should be known, not merely accepted as an > intellectual belief. Often we hear that "Seeing is > believing". There is absolutely NO reason why this > cannot be true in relation to God. Yet this is a > startling or blasphemous idea to many. Probably the > young Narendra was startled to hear this definite > statement among so many vague ones, and decided he > must find out whether this was a madman, or one who > held the secret for which he had been searching. Like > any good scientific mind, he took up and continued his > association with Sri Ramakrishna until he verified for > himself that astonishing statement "I see God, and see > also that He is more real than you who I see with my > physical eyes." > Lilith M. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 18, 2004 Report Share Posted November 18, 2004 Sure, the more the merrier! Pass it around. Lilith M. --- SophiasHeaven a écrit : > Thanks for this beautiful and informative story > Lilith, > > :-) Do you mind if I share it with a few others? > > Btw, I got my Kali postcards thanks for the link. > > Blessings of the Goddess, > Cathie > In a message dated 11/17/2004 6:12:29 PM Mountain > Standard Time, > sephirah5 writes: > > > I would like to recount some stories about Sri > > Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1839-1889). For those of > you > > who do not know who he was, he was a God-Realized > > saint (as was his wife Shri Sarada Devi) of the > > Dakshineswar Kali Temple outside Calcutta. He was > also > > the guru of the better-known Swami Vivekananda, > who > > was originally known as Narendra. The young > Narendra > > had talked to many holy men and asked them "Have > you > > seen God?" None was able to give a satisfactory > > answer. But Ramakrishna answered immediately. > "Yes, I > > have. Not only that; I see Him much more vividly > and > > much more clearly than I see you." > > According to the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, > > religion is a completely personal experience. God > > should be known, not merely accepted as an > > intellectual belief. Often we hear that "Seeing is > > believing". There is absolutely NO reason why this > > cannot be true in relation to God. Yet this is a > > startling or blasphemous idea to many. Probably > the > > young Narendra was startled to hear this definite > > statement among so many vague ones, and decided he > > must find out whether this was a madman, or one > who > > held the secret for which he had been searching. > Like > > any good scientific mind, he took up and continued > his > > association with Sri Ramakrishna until he verified > for > > himself that astonishing statement "I see God, and > see > > also that He is more real than you who I see with > my > > physical eyes." > > Lilith M. > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been > removed] > > Vous manquez d’espace pour stocker vos mails ? Mail vous offre GRATUITEMENT 100 Mo ! Créez votre Mail sur http://fr.benefits./ Le nouveau Messenger est arrivé ! Découvrez toutes les nouveautés pour dialoguer instantanément avec vos amis. A télécharger gratuitement sur http://fr.messenger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 19, 2004 Report Share Posted November 19, 2004 This story involving Sri Ramakrishna took place at the Durga festival of 1894. Mathur Babu was the person in charge of managing the Dakshineswar Temple for Rani Rasmani, its founder. Mathur Babu had tremendous powers of devotion, as it was written in his horoscope that his Deity would always be near him, and it was he who recognized Ramakrishna as God-Realized, thus protecting him from the outrage of the other priests, who were incensed at Ramakrishna's unorthodox methods of devotion and constantly complained of him to Mathur Babu. Once Mathur Babu happened to see Ramakrishna pacing back and forth on the veranda, and saw with his own eyes Ramakrishna become Shiva when he moved in the one direction and Kali when he moved in the other. Filled with devotion, Mathur Babu fell at Ramakrishna's feet. Ramakrishna exclaimed, "Get up, get up! You are a powerful landowner and I am a poor temple priest! People must not see you sprawled at my feet!" The Durga festival lasts 5 days, ending on the evening of the fifth with the immersion of the image which has been used in the worship. Two kinds of images are used in Hindu ritual: permanent and temporary. The permanent image, made of marble or some other stone is placed in a temple, dedicated, and worshiped every day thenceforward. The temporary image, made of clay, is used only for one particular religious festival;then it is consigned to the nearest river, lake or sea. The temporary image is just as sacred as the permanent one, but only for the duration of the festival. Before it can be worshiped, the worshipper must evoke the Divine Presence from his own heart and transfer that Presence to the image. Before the image can be removed from the shrine and immersed, the Divine Presence must be withdrawn from it again and re-installed within the worshipper's heart. The reason for this procedure is obvious enough. But devotion is not reasonable. And it may easily happen that the worshipper suffers great pain in consequence. If he truly believes that the Presence has entered the image, then there is the danger that his devotion may fixate upon the image itself. Image and Presence will become one in his mind, and the thought of separating them again will distress him terribly. This is what happened to Mathur Babu at the Durga festival. When the priests came to him, at the end of the festivities, to tell him it was time for the ritual immersion, Mathur was overcome first with grief, then became violently agitated. He cried out that he would not allow the removal of the image. It must stay where it was, and be worsipped every day. He actually uttered threats of harm against anyone trying to remove it and immerse it against his will. The priests were disconcerted. No one had ever acted in this way before, and they considered that Mathur had gone mad. But mad or not, Mathur was still in charge. It was his shrine, in his home, and if he chose to forbid the immersion, they would have to obey him. Ironically, they turned to Ramakrishna for help in getting Mathur to see reason. "What are you afraid of?" Ramakrishna asked Mathur. "Do you think Mother will leave you, just because Her image is dropped into the Ganges? Can a Mother ever leave Her child? For three days now you have been worshiping Her here in this shrine. But now, She is coming to be much nearer to you. Here, within your own heart!" And Ramakrishna rubbed Mathur's heart chakra gently with his hand; and as always, his touch gave tremendous power to his words. Mathur's fear and grief dropped away, and he became happy again. And the immersion ceremony was duly performed without further incident. Lilith M. The all-new My - Get yours free! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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