Ramakrishana, etc.

[Guest guest]

The recent discussions on Bhakti cover a wide field

on Rananuja, rituals and Vivekananda. I would like

to add my brief on Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, who

lived in the last century and quite an amount of

documentation on his life is reported in print.

The greatness of Paramahamsa was his knowledge of

Hindu philosphy was gleaned out of the Bagahvatham

and professed after experiencing Nirvana. He was

not educated by modern standards, but his parables

exemplify scholarship and brilliance. They bring

out the morals quite clearly. Born and brought

up a Vaishanvite, he clearly showed that Brahman

can be worshipped in many forms and bhakti is

a great method for salvation. Praising him does not

in anyway diminish the importance of Acharyas

of th South.

What I do want to stress is that it is

all in one's own mind and attitude.

My interest in

these topics have been how to correlate the goal-

oriented materialistic world we live in and the life

we pursue to earn a living ( uncha-vritthi brahamana )

with the theosophical goals we seek. I think the

world we live in now is far different from what it was

in the time of our Acharyas. Religion was one of the

top profession then ( also in the West, Oxford,

Princeton etc. devoted most of the courses to it.)

Does the simple bhakti life, as probably practced

(? or supposedto be ) by the Hare Krishna community

today, provide the answer?

I personally lead the life of a

professional spending most of my time at

a job to earn a living and I have trained my

kids and advised many youngsters to seek new

adventures and target high-return professions.

How can I suddenly change and ask them also to

lead a life of Acharams as defined by the

Srivaishanva community I was born in. Such an

internal conflict need not reduce my interest in

knowing more about our acharyas or Vaishanvism.

Thanks for your patience. Krishna praba