Guru Shishya(Disciple) Communication

This is an insightful dialogue between Sadguru Ramkrishna Paramahansa & Swami Vivekanand. Swami Vivekanand:- I can’t find free time. Life has become hectic.

?Ramkrishna Paramahansa:- Activity gets you busy. But productivity gets you free.

Swami Vivekanand:-?Why has life become complicated now?

Ramkrishna Paramahansa:-?Stop analyzing life.. It makes it complicated. Just live it.

Swami Vivekanand:-?Why are we then constantly unhappy?

?Ramkrishna Paramahansa:- Worrying has become your habit. That’s why you are not happy.

Swami Vivekanand:-?Why do good people always suffer?

Ramkrishna Paramahansa:- Diamond cannot be polished without friction. Gold cannot be purified without fire. Good people go through trials, but don’t suffer. With that experience their life becomes better, not bitter.

Swami Vivekanand:-?You mean to say such experience is useful?

Ramkrishna Paramahansa:- Yes. In every term, Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lessons afterwards.

Swami Vivekanand:-?Because of so many problems, we don’t know where we are heading…

Ramkrishna Paramahansa:- If you look outside you will not know where you are heading. Look inside. Eyes provide sight. Heart provides the way.

Swami Vivekanand:-?Does failure hurt more than moving in the right direction?

Ramkrishna Paramahansa:- Success is a measure as decided by others. Satisfaction is a measure as decided by you.?

Swami Vivekanand:-??In tough times, how do you stay motivated?

Ramkrishna Paramahansa:- Always look at how far you have come rather than how far you have to go. Always count your blessing, not what you are missing.

Swami Vivekanand:-??What surprises you about people?

Ramkrishna Paramahansa:- When they suffer they ask, “why me?” When they prosper, they never ask “Why me?”?

Swami Vivekanand:-?How can I get the best out of life?

Ramkrishna Paramahansa:- Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear.

Swami Vivekanand:-?One last question. Sometimes I feel my prayers are not answered.

Ramkrishna Paramahansa:- There are no unanswered prayers.?Keep the faith and drop the fear.?Life is a mystery to solve, not a problem to resolve. Trust me. Life is wonderful if you know how to live.

In Sri Ramkrishna's presence there was a meeting/debate of the renouned pundits of various fractions of Hindu Dharma (e.g., Vashnabitis, Saktas, Vedantas etc) to decide about his avatarhood and it was unanimously decided that he was an Avatar according to the Hindu canon. Sri Ramkrishna also declared and identified himself with the Same who is the Rama and the Krishna. Sri Ramakrishna is most certainly an ‘Avatara’ (Incarnation of God). This has been testified not only by Sri Ramakrishna himself and his foremost disciple Swami Vivekananda but by many other spiritual personages. In the Gospel and Life of Sri Ramakrishna, we come across several instances in which Sri Ramakrishna speaks about himself as an Avatara.

But this fact is sealed in this particular testimony given by Sri Ramakrishna himself to Narendranath (the future Swami Vivekananda). The incident is as follows :-Sri Ramakrishna had revealed his divinity many times to his disciples. A couple of days before Sri Ramakrishna’s passing, while he was suffering throes of agony and excruciating pain from cancer, Naren was seated near his bed. Seeing Sri Ramakrishna’s emaciated body, Naren thought to himself : “Well, now if you can declare that you are God, then only will I believe you are really God Himself.” This was just a stray thought in young Naren’s mind but Sri Ramakrishna immediately intuited it. Looking straight at Naren he said categorically : “He who was Rama and he who was Krishna is born as Ramakrishna in this body; and not only in your Vedantic sense.”

Now, let us see what the great Swami Vivekananda himself had to say later about the Avatarahood of Sri Ramakrishna. The fact is brought out in one of his conversations with a disciple :

Disciple (to Swami Vivekananda) : Do you believe him (Sri Ramakrishna) to be an Avatara (Incarnation of God) ?

Swamiji : Tell me first — what do you mean by an Avatara ?

Disciple : Why, I mean one like Sri Ramachandra, Sri Krishna, Sri Gauranga, Buddha, Jesus etc.

Swamiji : I know Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna to be even greater than those you have just named. What to speak of mere belief, which is a petty thing — I know, I know !

Surely, there cannot be a more vehement affirmation than this. Much, much earlier when Sri Ramakrishna in his younger days was pursuing various paths of ‘sadhana’ (spiritual pursuit), one of his Gurus (spiritual teachers) ‘ Bhairavi Brahmani ’ convened a meeting of numerous, learned Pandits (scholars) in Shastras (scriptures). In that assembly, she boldly proclaimed and proved through scriptural authority that Sri Ramakrishna was an Avatara (Incarnation of God); and subsequently several others followed suit. One of the scholars; Pandit Gauri was renowned for his uncommon siddhis (powers) and vast scholarship. He voiced his estimation of Sri Ramakrishna emphatically in unequivocal terms. In a serious tone he said to Sri Ramakrishna: “My conviction is that you are He, from whose parts incarnations come down to the world from age to age to do good to humanity and with whose power they accomplish their mission.”

Well now; let us go back in time; to the time when Sri Ramakrishna was yet to be born. Sri Ramakrishna’s father, Kshudiram was a very devout man. Once, he had been to the sacred city of Gaya on a pilgrimage where he had a wondrous dream vision. Lord Gadadhar Vishnu in a luminous, radiant form graciously appeared before him and addressed him in a sweet voice, “Kshudiram, your extraordinary devotion has made me exceedingly happy. I bless you. I shall be born as your son and will receive your loving care.” Around the same time, his wife Chandradevi (Sri Ramakrishna’s mother) had a divine experience in front of the Shiva temple near their house in Kamarpukur. She saw a divine effulgence come from the holy image of Lord Shiva, fill the temple after which it engulfed her and swiftly entered into her body. Ever since, she had the feeling that she was pregnant. Not long afterward, Sri Ramakrishna was born.

Speaking about the doctrine of Incarnation of God (Avatara), Swami Vivekananda says —“ Those by whose ‘Grace’ the knowledge of this Atman, which is extolled so much in the scriptures, is attained in a minute, are the moving Tirthas (seats of holiness)—the Incarnations. From their very birth, they are knowers of Brahman………….Man’s relative knowledge reaches up to the Avatar's—those who are always established in the Atman. The highest ideal of Ishvara which the human mind can grasp is the Avatara. Beyond this there is no relative knowledge. Such Knowers of Brahman are rarely born in this world. And very few people can understand them.

They alone are the proof of the truths of the scriptures—the towers of light in the ocean of the world. By the company of such Avataras and by their grace, the darkness of the mind disappears in a trice—and ‘realization’ flashes immediately in the heart. Why or by what process it comes, it cannot be ascertained. But it does come. I have seen it happen like that.” Thus, it is proved beyond doubt that Sri Ramakrishna was indeed an Avatara (Incarnation of God).