RE: (ramakrishna) Digest Number 349

[Guest guest]

Dear Vinaire

 

It is a very interesting question that you have put up which I shall

try to answer. Before we proceed any further, let me give you an

introduction about myself. I am an engineer by profession and have a

very doubting mind (I used to take pride in being very rational in

thinking). It was three years back that accidently (I think), I read

the Gospel. With another accident, I stepped into the Ramakrishna

temple at Mylapore, Chennai. Today, the investigation continues, some

doubts are answered, I have learnt to live with a few doubts. Whether

he is a god or man does not least excite me as much as the fact that I

think he is the highest ideal I have known....And unlike the other

avatars, this master belongs to our times and very relevant in this

age.

 

I am writing this about myself so that you should be very clear that I

am a novice and that I cannot dream of my answer ever being complete.

So with all humility and in the spirit of satsangh, I venture to give

an answer.

 

I hope my reply will rise to the occasion in answering this great

question rationally and not be lost in mushy emotions that many of us

are faulty of. Your question and doubt appeared in the mind of no less

great person than Swami Vivekananda, when the master was on his death

bed.

 

Avatar literally means " Ava tarati : Coming down " . In the Bhagwat Gita

it is stated that Whenever Dharma is in trouble, the divine embodies

itself to uplift and establish Dharma. It means that the divinity

embodies itself for achieving a certain purpose and this form is

subject to the laws of nature. In this sense, it is a " coming down " .

They go through the cycle of birth and death. After achieving the

purpose, the body is simply spat out and the incarnation continues in

the spirit form.

 

The physical bodies of avatars are subject to the laws of nature. Sri

Krishna was shot by a hunter and he died bleeding in the forest .

Christ was crucified in the most painful manner. Jaina died of

diorrohea. There are many more examples of the physical bodies of

great avatars being subject to the laws of nature.

 

But then what makes them different from any other being? It is the

spirit. The way they lived holds great lessons for us.

 

An example of this spirit is the famous incident of Guru Maharaj on

his death bed. Swamiji had the same doubt...If Guru Maharaj is an

avatar, why is he suffering so much? Now you can just imagine how

Swamiji's hair would have stood on its end, when Guru Maharaj divined

the doubts of Swamiji and said, " he who was Rama and he who was

Krishna is this very same Ramakrishna who is lying in the death bed in

front of you. And not in your advaitic sense. " Think of it,,,even if

we are ill with a flu, or have a headache, we feel so down and

out....and such a remarkable statement coming from a person who is in

terrible pain and on his death bed. This is something to think

about...

 

There is another remarkable incident when during the last days of Guru

Maharaj, and when he was mostly confined to bed, Sri Sri Maa saw him

one day, shooting out of the room hastily. When he returned back, upon

enquiring, the master said that he had rushed out to shoo off a snake

from the tree, under which his disciples were planning to sit, as it

could have endangered the lives of his disciples. His extreme concern

for his disciple and the secondary nature of his physical state is

very important. It is not very easy to explain unless you accept that

he had no physical limitations...It almost seems that he were enacting

the whole episode....his leela.

 

Why did the master suffer so long? The humble beginings of the great

mission started during this time. A band of devoted and aspiring

youths and householders came together during this time bound by the

love for their master, serving the master and under the leadership of

young Naren. It was the seed of what was to be a mission in the later

years. A thousand salutations to this great master who brought

religion to our door steps, available to one and all irrespective of

caste or creed. In retrospect, I wonder whether this illness and

suffering of the master was self-willed...Such a line of thought

opens up many possibilities...one among them being, was he a

supernatural being(my idea of an Avatar)? Any amount of convincing

answers from without is of no avail...as it has been explained

umpteen number of times by great personalities. Let us start to

understand him a little better every day till we reach the

conclusion.

 

In writing this, I have not spent too much time(nor did I research),

though I would have wished otherwise. Some of the more learned and

experienced ones on this list can explain this better.

 

With love

 

 

Sunil

 

 

 

 

> vinaire

>

> I guess I have a question that was put to me by a new devotee of Sri

Ramakrishna. The question was, " If Sri Ramakrishna was an AVATAR, how come

he

had to suffer from cancer near the end of his days? "

>

> That devotee is very sincere. She told me that Sri Ramakrishna recently

appeared in her dream and blessed her. She is simply puzzled by the above

occurrence in the earthly life of Sri Ramakrishna. I did answer her in my

own

way, but it seems that it didn't quite satisfy her curiosity. I would like

to

know how other participants on this board view that event.

>

> Thank you,

> Vinaire

>