Praying Saints

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

We're all aware that Thakur was a great devotee of the Divine Mother. He had realized God through many paths. That would make him a unique person in the history of religions. In all Sri Ramakrishna Math's we find the picture or idol of Thakur being worshipped. I may sound dumb, but my question is why not pray to the divine mother directly instead of praying Thakur? His direct disciples could pray to him as he was their Guru and cause of their realization. I had seen in the ISKCON temples that their main idol of worship is Lord Krishna, but they have the idols of Lord Chaitanya and others on the left side of the idols of Radha and Krishna. Any idea why Divine Mother's image is not prayed in any Ramakrishna center's? I appreciate your valuable responses.

 

Pranams,

Prasad

[Guest guest]

Further to the posting:

 

In all Sri Ramakrishna Math's we find the picture or idol of Thakur being worshipped. I may sound dumb, but my question is why not pray to the divine mother directly

 

Response:

 

This question reflects the fixation we all have on the antiquated rather than the contemporary face of spirituality.

My question is: Why should I worship Mother Kali if I have Sri Ramakrishna in front of me?

Mother Kali is an ancient personification of spirituality, Sri Ramakrishna is the contemporary one.

 

Sometimes I tell Hindu audiences in London, why should Vivekananda have to measure up to the ancient proponents of Hinduism?

The ancient proponents of Hinduism have to measure up to him else they are past their sale-by-date.

 

jay

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Prasad,

 

If you think that direct disciples could pray to Sri Ramakrishna, that applies to all indirect

disciples of Sri Ramakrishna also. Infact there is nothing indirect here. When I took my

initiation, it was clearly articulated to me that Sri Ramakrishna is your Guru, your God

by most revered Srimat Swami Ranganathanandji Maharaj. In our scriptures, Guru is

worshipped as God "Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu Guru Devo Maheshwara".

 

There was a time when the initiation form of Sri Ramakrishna Math had a column to

enter the chosen diety. I believe this was discontinued from the time of our 10th

President Srimat Swami Vierswaranandji (Prabhu) maharaj. There was an instance when one of

the devotee from Kerala provided Lord Ayyappa as his chosen diety in the initiation form

and Prabhu Maharaj got the mantra from the chief priest of Sabarimala, practiced it to attain Siddhi

and then initiated the devotee. But later, Prabhu Maharaj discontinued this practice, saying that this

is the will of Sri Ramakrishna. Ofcourse Prabhu Maharaj would never disclose this, but a Senior monk from Ramakrisna Math told me that Prabhu Maharaj might have got the mandate in a vision.

 

Regards,

 

Sujith

 

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[Guest guest]

Namastae Prasad ji, What i feel is "worship of the 'divine Mother' would become a religious concept where as now Takur ji is worshiped as a guru by people of all religion. Moreover though he is a devotee of Ma, he did not preach us idol worship. He realized the holy spirit in the form of The Divine Mother. We can feel the same spirit in any form. He is leading us to the way to the holy spirit. He along with that also teaches us the power of Dharma and Karma. His great love SWAMI VIVEKANANDHA can be called as a reformer rather a spiritualist or a religionalist. Takur also wanted that. He did not ask us to devote life to God, but he want us to improve the society with the support of Ma. Today in our life what we need is not the religion but a guiding light. When we see God, we ll just feel to put all our worries infront of her and ask her to come for rescue, but when we see him we will get the energy to go for

rescue for others' sufferings. There are many temples to worship Ma but its a place to feel him. Takur says more than what religion says. secondly the idol of Takur is kept not only to worship but to remind us his preachings." Pardon me if i am wrong. divya.prasad pratapa <pratapaprasad wrote: Hi All, We're all aware that Thakur was a great devotee of the Divine Mother. He had realized God through many paths.