Guest guest Posted June 4, 2002 Report Share Posted June 4, 2002 Paradox of Vivekananda's realization Some of the Ramakrishna's (RK) biographies state that RK had said about Vivekananda that the day he finds out who he is he will leave the world and it seems that that's exactly what happened. I find this interesting for the following reason. Vivekananda was a teacher/follower of Advaita Vedanta and I think most people agree that he was a realized soul. What that means to me is that he had realized the highest/absolute reality (brahman). What else could such a person realize that would make him leave the world? Can somebody shed any light on this apparent paradox? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~response~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Really difficult to answer. Here we are dealing with the relationship between the relative and the absolute. How can the absolute truly interact with the relative? How do God-men incarnate? How do they keep their own nature hidden from themselves? Beyond me...... Other list members may have better explanation. regards jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 17, 2002 Report Share Posted December 17, 2002 i have read that sri ramakrishna showed swami vivekananda his real nature and then hid it from him,because swamji had work to do in this world and he could not have carried it out if he knew who he was. sri ramakrishna promised him that his real nature would once again be revealed to him after his purpose is completed.swamji might have been alluding to this incident. Jai~ Raam <jai_raam wrote may i add my guesses to the query as well...Vivekananda himself said that the path to Brahman is an infinite progression...one never stops growing even after merging with Brahman. the individual identity may be lost but who knows what identities are there in the other worlds...and Brahman itself is growing...growing .It was time for the Swamiji to resume his growth in other planes...yet one thinks he is still in the relative plane looking to our needs and sacrificing his personal growth...all this is on the guessing plane..> > Some of the Ramakrishna's (RK) biographies state> > that RK had said> > about Vivekananda that the day he finds out who he> > is he will leave> > the world and it seems that that's exactly what> > happened. I find this> > interesting for the following reason. Vivekananda> > was a> > teacher/follower of Advaita Vedanta and I think most> > people agree> > that he was a realized soul. What that means to me> > is that he had> > realized the highest/absolute reality (brahman).> > What else could such> > a person realize that would make him leave the> > world? Can somebody> > shed any light on this apparent paradox?> >> >> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~response~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> >> > Really difficult to answer. Here we are dealing with> > the relationship> > between the relative and the absolute. How can the> > absolute> > truly interact with the relative? How do God-men> > incarnate?> > How do they keep their own nature hidden from> > themselves?> > Beyond me...... Other list members may have better> > explanation.> >> > regards> > jay> >> >> >> >> > Sri Ramakrishnaye Namah> > Vivekananda Centre London> > http://www.vivekananda.co.uk> >> > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 18, 2002 Report Share Posted December 18, 2002 I have always thought that this meant " when he realizes what his enormous role in the history of man really is " --it will stun him as it were; end his lila. Because of course he had realized his REAL nature, and was never far away from That. Just another guess. Yogeshananda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 18, 2002 Report Share Posted December 18, 2002 Dear Jay, Beats me too. We have in the Gita that incarnations take the help of maya to incarnate but are not affected by maya. Thakur and Ma are excellent examples of this. But we find Swamiji in various moods at different times. Of course we are too small to understand this great soul but it does seem odd. And again instances are not rare where Swamiji reveals his divine nature to his devotees. A well recorded instance being when he appeared as Lord Shiva before his close devotee Sarat Chandra. There are also recorded instances of devotees in America seeing only a light like energy field in his place when he was lecturing. We also see Mahapurush Maharaj remaining constantly in the threshold between life as we see it and the divinity within. Rakhal Maharaj's sentence that " True religion begins after attaining nirvikalpa samadhi " is so difficult to comprehend. But Rakhal Maharaj too came to know his own nature during a kirtan, towards the end of his lila, where songs about Krishna were being sung. However Mahapurush Maharaj often remembered his closeness to Lord Buddha and yet he managed to keep his body. Strange are the ways of Avtar Sri Sri Ramakrishna and his Parshads. Regards Jagannath. Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 18, 2002 Report Share Posted December 18, 2002 Ramakrishna , Jagannath Chatterjee <jagchat01> wrote: > Dear Jay, > > Beats me too. We have in the Gita that incarnations > take the help of maya to incarnate but are not > affected by maya. Thakur and Ma are excellent examples > of this. But we find Swamiji in various moods at > different times. Of course we are too small to > understand this great soul but it does seem odd. > > And again instances are not rare where Swamiji reveals > his divine nature to his devotees. Namaste, We have Thakur's own words declaring that Swamiji was one of the 'Sapta-Rishis' he persuaded to come with him in this incarnation. Thakur has also said that Mother Kali told him to stay in 'Bhava-Mukha' for the sake of the devotees. He also refused to visit Gaya on pilgrimage because he would not have been able to keep his body; [this was where his father had dreamt that God would take birth as his son, and his mother experienced a light entering her]. He did visit Varanasi and Vrindavan; he reluctantly left Vrindavan so his mother would not feel the pain of separation. Gita 10:15-16 - svayamevaatmanaatmaanaM vettha tvaM purushhottama . bhuutabhaavana bhuutesha devadeva jagatpate .. 10\.15.. vaktumarhasyasheshheNa divyaa hyaatmavibhuutayaH . yaabhirvibhuutibhirlokaanimaa.nstva.n vyaapya tishhThasi .. 10\.16.. Regards, Sunder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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