spirituality

Sri Ramakrishna (1836-86), a remarkable nineteenth century Hindu holy man, claimed that the essential mystical experience is the same, whatever path is followed.

Sri Ramakrishna was born in a Bengal village and at the age of nineteen became a priest of the goddess Kali at Dakshineswar, near Calcutta. After some time of intense devotion, he realised the presence of Kali as the Divine Mother. He then focused his attention on Rama. He put himself in the place of Hanuman, a devotee of Rama and began to imitate his actions, ‘living on nuts and fruits and climbing trees and jumping from branch to branch.’ Eventually he had a vision of Sita, Rama’s consort and of the child Rama. Following other spiritual disciplines (sadhana) he had visions of Krishna as a friend and then identified himself in an ecstasy of passionate love with Krishna, the eternal Lover. Later in life, he was instructed in Advaita Vedanta and we are told that on the very first day he attained nirvikalpasamadhi (undifferentiated concentration) to the astonishment of his teacher, who exclaimed, ‘Is it really true? Is it possible that this man has attained in the course of a single day that which it took me forty years of strenuous practice to achieve? Great God, it is nothing short of a miracle’

After a time, Ramakrishna followed the devotional path of a Sufi and said that after three days he had had a vision of the Prophet Muhammad. He also had some acquaintance with Christianity and the Bible and saw a vision of Jesus whom he recognised as an incarnation of God. Jadu Mallick, a Hindu who had chosen Jesus as his personal god (ishta deva) read the bible to Sri Ramakrishna. His experience of Jesus is described in this way in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.

He became gradually overwhelmed with divine emotion and breaking through the barriers of creed and religion, he entered a new realm of ecstasy. Christ possessed his soul. For three days, he did not set foot in Kali temple. On the fourth day, in the afternoon as he was walking on the Panchavati, he saw coming towards him a person with beautiful large eyes, serene countenance, and fair skin. As the two faced each other, a voice sang out in the depths of Sri Ramakrishna’s soul: “Behold the Christ, who shed his heart’s blood for the redemption of the world, who suffered a sea of anguish for love of men... It is he, the master Yogi, who is in eternal union with God It is Jesus, Love Incarnate.” The Son of Man embraced the Son of the Divine Mother and merged in him. Sri Ramakrishna realised his identity with Christ, as he had already realised his identity with Kali, Rama, Hanuman, Radha, Krishna, Brahman and Mohammed.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), an Indian poet and philosopher best known for his poem Gitanjali, wrote a poem in tribute to Sri Ramakrishna.

Diverse courses of worship
from varied springs of fulfilment
have mingled in your meditation.
The manifold revelation of joy of The Infinite
has given form to a shrine of unity
in your life
Where from far and near arrive salutations
to which I add mine own.

This poem echoes the claim made by many modern Hindus that all religious paths lead to the same experience of unity with the divine. Underlying this claim is the view that mystical experience, despite apparent differences, is essentially the same. This view has been echoed by some Western scholars in the field, although others have argued against it.