Ramakrishna Parmahansa on Freemasonry

[Guest guest]

Many Western people know of “Mahatma” Mohandas Gandhi, the liberator

of India, but relatively few know of Ramakrishna Parmahansa, (1836-1886) the

great Indian mystic who was the preceptor of Swami Vivekananda, who was in

his turn, the chosen representative and expositor of Vedantic philosophy to

the West at the great World Religions Conference that took place in the late

1800s. By meditation and actual individual contemplation of the great

central doctrine at the heart of EVERY religion (not just the Hindu ones),

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa demonstrated literally, not figuratively, that

they all ultimately led to the same goal, and that it was only necessary for

someone to follow any given religious doctrine with all the faith and

devotion they could muster, in order to realize the spiritual benefits to be

gained from that path.

 

What has he to do with Freemasonry? A very great deal. The central tenet

that Sri Ramakrishna always adhered to was “Truth”. In fact, he was so

truthful that he even flatly refused to undergo his “sacred thread ritual”at

the age of nine, when informed by his older brother that his nursemaid could

not possibly be made his godmother at the rite as she was of a lowly caste

and he was a Brahmin (the highest caste). Ramakrishna solemnly insisted that

he had promised her the honour, and if he were to renege on that promise he

would then be an untruthful person, and thereby rendered unfit to wear the

sacred thread of a Brahmin. His brother was forced to capitulate, and the

nursemaid was indeed permitted to be Ramakrishna’s godmother. This

reputation for absolute truthfulness was a hall-mark of his existence all

through his life.

 

Ramakrishna always insisted that adherence to Truth was an essential

ingredient in one’s spiritual progress, even going so far as to say that

being truthful is the greatest spiritual practice of this current age,

(referred to in India as the “Kali Yuga” or “Black Aeon”). According to

Ramakrishna, if one does not hold to Truth, one can never “attain to God”,

because God IS Truth. Since truth and integrity is the veritable cornerstone

of Freemasonry, while learning about Ramakrishna, I wondered, if, having

been approached by many people of every religious persuasion to hold forth,

he had ever been invited at any point to hold forth on Freemasonry.

 

That question was answered in the book “Ramakrishna As We Saw Him”, by

Swami Chetananda, a collection of stories and anecdotes about Ramakrishna by

those who knew him and who had experienced his holiness first-hand. In the

Appendix of this book there is a small collection of miscellaneous accounts

that surfaced later on and were added to later editions. One account in this

section passingly mentions Ramakrishna making the journey to Calcutta to “go

and see Masonic symbols” in the Beadon Gardens there. The fact that he is

actually on independent record as having made an expedition for such a

purpose (Ramakrishna was a renunciate and as such was not given over to

unnecessary or idle expeditions away from the Temple he served) suggests he

may well have been invited to do so by local Freemasons who were anxious to

hear what such a great holy man had to say to them .

 

It is entirely possible that there were Freemasons among Sri

Ramakrishna’s followers; many British people of note were attracted to him.

It may well have happened, that some Indian or British Freemason, having

visited Sri Ramakrishna, was anxious to see what he had to say about their

“religion”. It would only have been necessary for Sri Ramakrishna to briefly

contemplate Freemasonic symbols themselves to spiritually discern and

comprehend the doctrine behind them; he was that kind of mystic! [i know

such a thing is possible; I myself received considerable insight into the

doctrines taught by Freemasonry, (all of which turned out to be accurate)

simply by meditating on the Square and Compass at length]. Sri Ramakrishna

was a great Avatar, thus it would have been unnecessary to tell him anything

about it AT ALL, thus no oaths need have been broken by anyone! It is only

too bad that if any transcript of this particular transaction was made, it

is probably locked away in Masonic archives in India somewhere. If any of

the Brethren in India has any knowledge of this encounter and can make

available all or part of the record, I would dearly love to read it, if

possible! PS . It is interesting to note that the best-known extant

photograph of the Master, (there are only 5) he is seated in a position in

which he actually and clearly physically resembles the Square and Compass!

 

Lilith M

 

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[TARAKNATH]

swami abhedanandaji, one of ramakrishna's disciples, in his autobiography "amar jibankatha' mentions at least 2 incidents of Sri ramakrishna visiting to see masonic symbols at Beadon Square, Kolkata.

on one occasion, he went to hear the songs of a popular devotional singer Nilkantha Mukhopadhyay, whom he liked very much at haatkhola Kolkata, after the session was over he came to Beadon square to see the masonic symbols.

the other occasion, which u mentioned, has also been documented in Ramakrishna Punthi. Ramakrishna was then suffering from his throat problems (1885), his terminal illness. he went to see a doctor near Beadon Sq. during this time he again went to see the masonic symbols, [after vising the doctor according to Punthi but as par Sw. Abhedananda, before visiting the doctor. the date might well be 23/9/1885. this incident may have taken a toll on his health.

on these 2occasions sw. Abhedananda accompanied him.

there may be other occasions too when he might have visited the masonic symbols, for he made many trips to the locality to visit, devotees, admirers or shrines.

his admirer Keshub Chunder Sen and his chief disciple Narendranath ( Swami Vivekananda) were masons.