Shri Ramakrishna’s God-Realisation through other Religions

It is said- claimed that as a result of Advaita Vedanta realisation, Shri Ramakrishna’s “mind acquired the power to accommodate itself to the plane of relativity as well as to that of transcendentalism . . . a wonderful breadth, accepting all forms of religion as so many ways to reaching perfection.” It is said that to practically demonstrate this fact, he converted to Islam and Christianity, though for a brief time in each case, to realise God through those religions.

So goes the story. Aman named Govinda Rai (in some sources his name is spelled as ‘Govinda Ray’) came to Dakshineswar in 1866. He was originally a Kshatriya Hindu but had embraced Islam attracted by its appeal of universal brotherhood. Rani Rasmani was hospitable to everyone and so was to Govinda Rai who found the temple garden of Dakshineswar congenial for his spiritual practices as he probably followed the path of Sufis. Ramakrishna was impressed by his devotion to God and decided to be initiated by him.

For three days, he adopted the Muslim ways of worship and clothing. He used to repeat the name of Allah, and say prayers regularly in these days. His nephew Hariday reports that during these days Ramakrishna wanted to eat Muslim food, which includes meat, but upon intense insistence of Mathur he desisted from it.

However, Mathur managed to arrange a Brahmin, who, under the directions of a Muslim cook, would prepare some Muslim style dishes for him. During the practice of Islam, he never entered into the temple and lived at Mathur’s quarters which were out of the temple compound.  He narrates about his practice during those days in the following words: "I devoutly repeated the name of Allah, wore a cloth like the Arab Moslems, said their prayers five times daily and felt disinclined even to see images of the Hindu gods and goddesses, muchless worship them- for the Hindu way of thinking had disappeared altogether from my mind".

After three days, he “saw a radiant Person with long beard and of grave appearance, and his mind passing through the realisation of Brahman with attributes, was finally absorbed in the Brahman without attributes.” According to Stark, the basis of Ramakrishna’s liberality was his knowledge of unity which enabled him to see God in all existence.

Resultantly, he had love for God as well as love for man. This is how he could embrace Islam and the Muslim community. Though, he practiced Islam for only three days, that spiritual experience left lasting imprints on his personality. He used to have Muslim disciples and venerate the worship of Allah in diverse ways. It may also be added that he always would mention the Prophet of Islam appreciatively.

Seven years later, he is said to have gone through an experience of Christianity akin to the case of Islam. Ramakrishna’s introduction to Christianity was materialised through Sambhu Charan Malik, who had a garden close to the Kali’s temple. He held high esteem for Ramakrishna and as a generous person used to take care of Ramakrishna’s needs after the death of Mathur.

He was acquainted with scriptures of different religions including the Bible that he was in the habit of reading to Ramakrishna during their meetings.  This aroused curiosity in Ramakrishna and he yearned to realise the Divine Mother through Christianity. It was sometime in 1874, while he was looking at the paintings of Mary and Christ hanging on the walls in the house of one of his devotees named Jadulal Mallick, when he felt that his Hindu ideas were replaced by the Christian ones and he went through an experience which has been described in the following words: "He felt as though the picture had become animated, and that rays of light were emanating from the figures of Mary and Christ and entering into him, altogether changing his mental outlook." When he realized that his Hindu ideas were being pushed into a corner by this onrush of new ones, he tried his best to stop them and eagerly prayed to the Divine Mother, ‘What is it that Thou art doing to me,

Mother?’ But in vain. His love and regard for the Hindu gods were swept away by this tidal wave, and in their stead a deep regard for Christ and the Christian church filled his heart and opened to his eyes the vision of Christian devotees burning incense and candles before the figure of Jesus in the churches and offering unto him the eager outpourings of their hearts.  After returning to the temple he remained in that state for three days during which he did not pay visit to Kali.

Then, on the fourth day as he was walking in the compound  of the temple complex He saw an extraordinary-looking person of serene aspect approaching him with his gaze intently fixed on him . . . the figure drew near, and from the inmost recesses of Sri Ramakrishna’s heart there went up the note, ‘This is the Christ who poured out his heart’s blood for the redemption of mankind and suffered agonies for its sake.’. . . Then the Son of Man embraced Sri Ramakrishna and became merged in him. The Master lost outward consciousness in Samadhi, realising his union with the Brahman with attributes.

After some time he came back to the normal plane. After that experience, he became convinced that the Christ was an incarnation of the Lord. It is interesting to note that in this experience he did not ascend above the level of Brahman with attributes, unlike the case of his experience through Islam, in which he claimed to have realised Absolute Impersonal God, ultimately. According to Müller, all his visions of God in different forms and persons were peculiar in that “he always saw them outside himself, but when they vanished they seemed to have entered into him. This was true of Rama, of Siva, of Kali, of Krishna, of Jesus, and of every other god or goddess or prophet.

Prof (Dr.) Kanayalal Raina advocates in spiritual teaching besides providing management consultancy services. His strategic plans are being used for obtaining funding to run various programs conducted by NFP nonprofit and business organizations. He strengthens NFP and business organizations through education, empowerment of leadership and mentoring, personal growth and strategic counselling. Areas of expertise are Govt. funding and preparation of Business Plans, Strategic Plans, Marketing plans, Sales and Pricing Plans, Balanced Scorecard, and Business Performance Management.