Written Messages

Paris

6 Feb. 2021

Phenomenon of Divinity as Ramkrishna Paramahansa in the 19th Century — a contemporary of Pujyapad Shyama Charan Lahiri Mahasay.

This is a short synopsis of a big book in Bengali language entitled ‘’Sri Ramkrishna and contemporary Kamarpukur’’ authored by Mr. Tarit Kumar Bandopadhyay.

Kamarpukur is the region where Ramkrishna was born in Indian West Bengal.

A Kriyaban devotee Krishnan has just circulated a short beautiful Message: ‘I’ is Illness, ‘We’ is ‘Wellness’. Although Ramkrishna was born in the highest Brahminical class, he was deeply friendly to all sections; without any feeling of importance or separateness. Thus there was no ‘I’ness in his body; only ‘We’-ness existed with enthusiasm in his being. The author has mentioned the names of his intimate friends with whom he used to sing and dance in ecstasy and euphoria. He would go into deep trance and remain for hours almost dead-like. His friends would run to his parents, brothers to inform. He would take long time to come back to normal state. Thirteen names of his close friends are mentioned in the book. Only two were Brahmins. Five were of second status, five were the lowest. One was Muslim.

It was not easy for people around him to understand his natural state of division-free awareness in which he used to be available moment in and moment out. Many cunning and conspiratorial people, posing as pious and holy, were avoiding him for the fear of being exposed by him all of sudden. He was naturally perceptive and available to enormous  energy of understanding. He used to spend nights after nights alone, where dead bodies were brought  and burnt in accordance with Hindu customs. His muslim friend was surprised to see him in Namaz-prayer during Id-celebration at the Mosque.

Conservative Hindus used to ridicule him and hurl abusive languages at him for such behavior. Ramakrishna used to say: Don’t be a frog of the well, be a bird of the sky. He had no hesitation to sit in the house of a ‘low caste’ family and eat food with relish. This was forbidden for one, born as Brahmin, in those days.

Swami Vivekanand paid tribute to Paramahansa Ramkrishna as ‘Avataar — the Greatest’, although he did not receive much education, nor studied any ‘religious book’, but lived in  an ideal way of simple living, in dignity and decorum, in the highest energy of understanding and wisdom

Jai Ramakrishna