Ramakrishna

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Ramakrishna

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa ( Sanskrit : रामकृष्ण परमहंस ; Bengali : রামকৄষ্ঞ পরমহংস , Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahaṃsa , maiden name: Ramakrishna Chattopadhyay , called Gadadhar or Gadai in his youth ; * February 18, 1836 in Kamarpukur , Bengal ; † August 16, 1886 in Kolkata ) was an important one hindu mystic. Paramahamsa is an honorary religious title in Hinduism.

Life

Already in his childhood Ramakrishna reported of spiritual visions. At the age of sixteen he was sent by his family to earn money to live with his brother Ramkumar in Kolkata , who worked there as a priest and ran a Sanskrit school. Ramakrishna's devotion to immersion in the worship of the gods was striking and unusual. He was not satisfied with reciting mantras, but is said to have felt the presence of the goddess and worshiped her until she was revealed to him. He showed a complete aversion to making money.

Due to special circumstances he finally became a priest in the temple complex of Dakshineshwar on the Ganges , a northern suburb of Kolkata. There were twelve Shiva temples, a Radha Kanta temple ( dedicated to Krishna and Radha ) and the main temple was the Kali temple. Kali is venerated there as the savior of the world (Bhavatarina).

Ramakrishna became a priest of the Kali temple and dedicated himself to his task with characteristic zeal. This began an intense spiritual search for him. Tradition reports that he sat crying in front of the statue of the goddess, called her for help and pleaded that she should show herself to him. He ate and did not sleep. In desperation he tried to take his own life when Kali revealed himself.

He himself described this vision in the following words:

“ I felt like my heart was being wrung out like a wet towel. Restlessness overwhelmed me and the fear that in this life I would no longer be able to look at you. I couldn't stand the breakup any longer. Life seemed to have become meaningless. Suddenly my eyes fell on the sword that was hanging in the temple of the mother (Kali). When I jumped up like a madman and tried to grab it, the Divine Mother suddenly revealed herself to me. All buildings, the temple and everything else disappeared from my sight without a trace, and instead I saw a limitless, infinite, shining ocean of consciousness. As far as the eye could see, shining waves rushed in with a terrible roar from all sides to devour me. I gasped for breath. The onslaught overwhelmed me and I fell unconscious to the floor. I knew nothing of the outside world, but an uninterrupted, pure bliss flowed within me and I felt the presence of the Divine Mother. "

When he regained awareness of his surroundings, the word 'mother' was on his lips.

A commission of Hindu scholars ( pandits ) found that only the presence of a divine incarnation ( avatara ) could explain Ramakrishna's ecstatic state. The simple priest was publicly declared an avatar and thus placed on an equal footing with other great saints such as Buddha or Jesus. To Ramakrishna himself it did not seem to matter. He remained a simple priest of the Kali Temple.

When he was already a samnyasin (Hindu monk), he married Sarada Devi , whom he had been promised as a child. It is reported that the marriage was never consummated physically. Sarada Devi became his disciple and after Ramakrishna's death a guru herself .

Ramakrishna's religiosity encompassed three major currents of Hinduism: Tantrism , Vishnuism, and Vedanta . He quickly acquired all the necessary skills and practiced the associated exercises. When he was practicing Vedanta, he got a new teacher, Tota Puri , a wandering monk, who taught him to realize the absolute beyond all relativity. It is reported that with this the final barrier fell for Ramakrishna and he reached the stage of nirvikalpa samadhi , the 'non-duality'. This is considered to be the highest divine state from which normally no person returns who does not have a special mission.

After Ramakrishna had internalized Hinduism through his own experience, he tried to grasp Islam and Christianity for himself personally by living like a Muslim and like a Christian for some time. In both cases he found that the religions were fundamentally equal; the same goal with different paths. Here too he felt led to absolute consciousness.

Ramakrishna's parable on the equality of all religions:

“I have practiced all religions: Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and I have also walked the paths of the different sects of Hinduism, and I have found that it is the same God that they all aspire to, albeit in different ways Because of ... You have to go these different paths and really try out each form of belief. Everywhere I see people arguing in the name of religion: Hindus, Muslims, Brahmos, Vishnuits, etc. But they don't consider that He who is called Krishna is also called Shiva , and he can just as easily be called Primordial Force, Jesus or Allah and just as well the one Rama with his thousand names. A pond with lots of bathing stairs. On one of them the Hindus draw water in jugs and call it Jal; on another, the Muslims draw the water in leather hoses and call it pani; on a third the Christians and call it Water. Can we imagine that this water is not Jal, but Pani or Water? That would be ridiculous! The original ground is one under different names, and everyone searches for the same original ground; only climate, nature and designation create the differences. "

Ramakrishna now became a teacher himself. Many disciples, followers of all kinds, came to see him in Dakshineshwar. His most famous student was Vivekananda .

On August 16, 1886, Ramakrishna died of throat cancer among his students. His work was continued by Vivekananda, who also carried the legacy of Ramakrishna to the West, introduced Hinduism and yoga to the general public in the USA and Europe for the first time and founded the Ramakrishna Mission .

literature

  • Lemaître, Solange: Ramakrischna, with self-testimonies and photo documents ; Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1986; ISBN 3-499-50060-4
  • Meiser, Christian (Ed.): Ramakrishna ; Goldmann, Munich 1986; ISBN 3-442-08437-7
  • Ramakrishna: The Legacy, the message of one of the greatest Indian wisdom teachers of modern times ; Barth, Frankfurt / Main 2003; ISBN 3-502-61155-6
  • Ramakrishna: being an instrument of God, conversations with his disciples ; Benziger, Zurich 1988; ISBN 3-545-20708-0
  • Torwesten, Hans: Ramakrishna, a life in ecstasy ; Benziger, Zurich, Düsseldorf 1997; ISBN 3-545-20133-3

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Ramakrishna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chattopadhyay, Thakur Gadadhar; Chattopadhyay, Ramakrishna (maiden name); श्रीरामकृष्णपरमहंस (Sanskrit); রামকৄষ্ঞ পরমহংস (Bengali); Gadadhar; Gadai
BRIEF DESCRIPTION hindu mystic
DATE OF BIRTH February 18, 1836
PLACE OF BIRTH Kamarpukur , Bengal
DATE OF DEATH August 16, 1886
Place of death Kolkata