John Tyndall
Irish physicist (1820-1893)
Ramakrishna
Indian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
Ramakrishna, an Indian Hindu mystic, was a devotee of the goddess Kali and adhered to various religious practices from Hindu traditions, as well as Christianity and Islam. He advocated for the unity of religions and is regarded by his followers as an avatar, or divine incarnation. Born in Kamarpukur, India, Ramakrishna had several religious experiences from childhood and later became a temple priest in Calcutta, where he experienced spiritual visions.
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About the Ramakrishna
Ramakrishna (18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886), also called Ramakrishna Paramahansa (Bengali: raamkRssnn prmhNs, romanized: Ramokrsno Poromohonso; pronounced [ramokrisno poromohoNGSo] ; IAST: Ramakrsna Paramahamsa), born Ramakrishna Chattopadhay, was an Indian Hindu mystic. He was a devotee of the goddess Kali, but adhered to various religious practices from the Hindu traditions of Vaishnavism, Tantric Shaktism, and Advaita Vedanta, as well as Christianity and Islam. He advocated the essential unity of religions and proclaimed that world religions are “so many paths to reach one and the same goal”. His parable-based teachings espoused the ultimate unity of diverse religions as being means to enable the realization of the same God. He is regarded by his followers as an avatar (divine incarnation).
Born in Kamarpukur, Bengal Presidency, India, Ramakrishna was the fourth and youngest child of his parents. He encountered several religious experiences starting from his childhood, and later began his career, at age twenty, as a temple priest at the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple in Calcutta. The devotional temperament of Ramakrishna coupled with his intense religious practices at the temple premises led him to experience various spiritual visions. Soon a few religious teachers visited Ramakrishna and assured him the sanctity of his visions. In 1859, in accordance with then prevailing customs, Ramakrishna was married to Sarada Devi, a marriage that was never consummated.
Tota Puri, a vedanta monk, initiated Ramakrishna into sannyasa in 1865. Ramakrishna later gained widespread acclaim amongst the temple visiting public as a guru, attracting to him social leaders, elites, and common people alike. Although initially reluctant to consider himself a guru, he eventually taught his disciples and founded the monastic Ramakrishna Order. Ramakrishna died due to throat cancer on the night of 15 August 1886. After his demise, his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda popularized his ideas in India and the West.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ramakrishna was an Indian Hindu mystic who was a devotee of the goddess Kali and adhered to various religious practices from Hindu traditions, as well as Christianity and Islam.
Ramakrishna advocated for the essential unity of religions and proclaimed that world religions are ,so many paths to reach one and the same goal,. He believed in the ultimate unity of diverse religions as means to enable the realization of the same God.
Ramakrishna was born in Kamarpukur, Bengal Presidency, India in 1836.
Ramakrishna encountered several religious experiences starting from his childhood, and later began his career as a temple priest at the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple in Calcutta.
In 1859, Ramakrishna was married to Sarada Devi, a marriage that was never consummated.
Although initially reluctant to consider himself a guru, Ramakrishna eventually taught his disciples and founded the monastic Ramakrishna Order, attracting social leaders, elites, and common people alike.
Ramakrishna died due to throat cancer on the night of 15 August 1886, and his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda later popularized his ideas in India and the West.
30 Quotes by Ramakrishna
- 1.
God is everywhere but He is most manifest in man. So serve man as God. That is as good as worshipping God.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 2.
Unless one always speaks the truth, one cannot find God Who is the soul of truth.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 3.
It is easy to talk on religion, but difficult to practice it.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 4.
Through love one acquires renunciation and discrimination naturally.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 5.
Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 6.
Through selfless work, love of God grows in the heart. Then through his grace one realize him in course of time. God can be seen. One can talk to him as I am talking to you.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 7.
If you desire to be pure, have firm faith, and slowly go on with your devotional practices without wasting your energy in useless scriptural discussions and arguments. Your little brain will otherwise be muddled.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 8.
The world is indeed a mixture of truth and make-believe. Discard the make-believe and take the truth.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 9.
Disease is the tax which the soul pays for the body, as the tenant pays house-rent for the use of the house.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 10.
To work without attachment is to work without the expectation of reward or fear of any punishment in this world or the next. Work so done is a means to the end, and God is the end.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 11.
One must be very particular about telling the truth. Through truth one can realize God.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 12.
When the flower blooms, the bees come uninvited.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 13.
If you want to go east, don’t go west.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 14.
Longing is like the rosy dawn. After the dawn out comes the sun. Longing is followed by the vision of God.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 15.
A man is truly free, even here in this embodied state, if he knows that God is the true agent and he by himself is powerless to do anything.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 16.
Pray to God that your attachment to such transitory things as wealth, name, and creature comforts may become less and less every day.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 17.
If you first fortify yourself with the true knowledge of the Universal Self, and then live in the midst of wealth and worldliness, surely they will in no way affect you.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 18.
Work, apart from devotion or love of God, is helpless and cannot stand alone.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 19.
If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love of God.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 20.
Unalloyed love of God is the essential thing. All else is unreal.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 21.
Travel in all the four quarters of the earth, yet you will find nothing anywhere. Whatever there is, is only here.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 22.
The fabled musk deer searches the world over for the source of the scent which comes from itself.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 23.
God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is why we suffer.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 24.
The physicians of one class feel the patients and go away, merely prescribing medicine. As they leave the room they simply ask the patient to take the medicine. They are the poorest class of physicians.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 25.
More are the names of God and infinite are the forms through which He may be approached. In whatever name and form you worship Him, through them you will realise Him.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 26.
God can be realized through all paths. All religions are true. The important thing is to reach the roof. You can reach it by stone stairs or by wooden stairs or by bamboo steps or by a rope. You can also climb up by a bamboo pole.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 27.
Many are the names of God and infinite the forms through which He may be approached.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 28.
Bondage is of the mind; freedom too is of the mind. If you say ‘I am a free soul. I am a son of God who can bind me’ free you shall be.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 29.
When the divine vision is attained, all appear equal; and there remains no distinction of good and bad, or of high and low.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)
- 30.
When one has love for God, one doesn’t feel any physical attraction to wife, children, relatives and friends. One retains only compassion for them.
RamakrishnaIndian mystic and religious preacher (1836-1886)