Spiritual GYAN

Sri Ramakrishna had a wonderful way of explaining the evanescent nature of this world.  He used to impress upon people that they should have a proper understanding of the true nature of existence. He conveyed this idea though a beautiful story. There was a farmer who lived a very simple and contended life. He had a wonderful perception about the transient nature of the world.  He was married and after several years a son was born to him whom he named Haru.  The parents loved the boy dearly.  One day when the farmer was working in the field, one of his neighbors came running to inform him that Haru had a severe attack of Cholera and within a matter of hours had died.  The farmer at once returned home.  Haru’s mother was weeping inconsolably.  But, the farmer was calm and behaved as if nothing had happened.  His wife said to the farmer, “You are really heartless.  You have not shed a drop of tear although your only child has passed awa...

Sri Ramakrishna used to describe his attitude towards scriptures, etc in the following manner.  He used to say that the holy texts only point out the way to reach God .  After knowing about the way, there is no need for books and scriptures; then comes the time for action. A man received a letter from his house asking him to purchase certain gifts meant for his relatives.  The descriptions of the articles to be purchased were mentioned in the letter.  As he was about to go for shopping for the items, he suddenly found that the letter was missing.  He began to search anxiously for it with several others joining in the attempt.  When at last the letter was discovered, his joy knew no bounds.  With great eagerness, he read the letter once again line by line.  It had been mentioned in the letter that he was to buy 5 kgs of sweets, 2 pieces of clothes and a few other items.  Now that he knew the contents of the letter, he no longer need...

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was formally married to Sri Sarada Devi , who in her later life was acclaimed as the Holy Mother by her devotees.  But, he had a unique relationship with her.  He looked upon her as the veritable manifestation of the Divine Mother and any thought of physical relationship never ever crossed his mind.  Of course, other people were baffled by this attitude and someone even went to the extent of asking him as to why he did not lead the life of a normal householder with his wife.  Sri Ramakrishna explained his attitude through a beautiful story from our Puranas. One day Ganesha was playing with a cat and he deliberately scratched it with his nails.  On returning home he was shocked to see a mark of scratch on the cheek of his mother Parvati .  He was very much disturbed and asked her as to who did this to her.  Parvati, who was none other than the Mother of Universe, replied, “This is the work of your own hands with a ...

Sri Ramakrishna used to explain beautifully the theory of reincarnation (rebirth) using a parable.  The theory of Karma is deeply linked to this idea. There was a man who was practicing Sava Sadhana (Tantrik practice using Sava or corpse as a seat for meditation).  He was worshipping the Divine Mother in a deep forest.  He had struggled hard and with great difficulty procured the items necessary for the worship.  Soon after he sat for meditation, he saw several terrible visions and finally, a tiger attacked and killed him.  Another man passing by happened to see the tiger and had climbed a tree to protect himself.  After the tiger went away, he got down from the tree and seeing the arrangements for worship at hand seated himself on the corpse and began the worship. In no time he had the vision of the Divine Mother who being pleased with his worship wanted to grant him a boon.  The man bowed with deep devotion and told the Divine Mot...