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May God give you good vision and heart to think in a right way.
Ramakrushna was a Person with tremendous inner power. and a realized
soul.
REPLY
I have no special love or hatred towards paramahamsa dEva (the Great Swan God, rAmakrishna paramahamsa is called in the book rAmakrishNa kathAmrita.
Does a Great Swan who had the reputation of going to samAdhi (a state of unconsciousness ) the moment Mother's name is uttered need a mosquito net, to sleep? A yogi's state of samAdhi ought to be his state of sleep. It is called yOga nidra (The sleep of yoga), the State in which devotees believe that yogis sleep in. yOgIes, particularly those yOgies whose bodies itch in repulsion, when a gold coin is placed on his couch, may not need any mosquito nets to enter sleep.
Q: How do you know that rAmakrishNa slept under mosquito nets? He was such an innocent sage that he used to sweep the floors in the dakshiNESvar temple, with his hairlocks?
Ans: Here is a quote from the rAmakrishna kathAmrita: Chapter 7. service to mother and Shri Ramakrishna. about Shri Hazra mahAshay, a dedicated innocent devotee of Shri rAmakrishNa. Shri rAmakrishNa said:
Sri Ramakrishna — And then he also lectures me from time to time. (All laugh.) During a discussion I perhaps abused him. After the discussion I lay inside the mosquito net. Then I remembered what language I had used. I went to offer my obeisance to Hazra. Only then my mind was at peace.ybrems
I immensely appreciate that Shri rAmakrishna felt that there was a need to correct his error of abusing Shri Hazra mahAsay.
What ought to irk sAdhakas then? -- use of mosquito nets by a God-like human, like an ordinary human with thin skin.
Ordinary humans need mosquito nets. Not Great Swans, who go to deep meditative states of unconsciousness, when God's name is mentioned and who sweep floors with hairlocks. samAdhis should make God-like persons mosquito-bite proof.
What I wish to point out is: RAmakrishNa was not a practioner of ascetism of that degree of intensity which makes a person unconscious of what is sukham (comfort) and what is kashTam (discomfort). He knew and preferred the comforts of this world. He knew the in-s and out-s of this ordinary materialistic world. We have a proverb in Telugu language, my mother tongue: "nOTlO vElu peTtE korakalEni vADu" , which approximately translates into English as: "somebody who cannot bite a finger which is inserted into his mouth". Shri rAmakrishNa was not such lamb or naif.
I do not blame Shri rAmakrishNa for the missing quality innocent-sincerity of an innocent sAdhaka (practitioner of ascetism).
Let us remember bhakta kannappa story where kannappa sacrificed his eyes to Lord Shiva, when kannappa observed that Shiva's eyes were bleeding. A true ascetic and devotee should be pain-free.
This question (Can a God-man or yogi be sick?) is what some of the European and Aristocratic disciples/patrons of Vivekananda, have raised about his sickness and his getting treated in United States? These were the same women who honored VivEkAnAnda with great gusto during his 1893 visit, and who stayed away during his 1899 visit.
Of course, vivEkAnanda's response for the question was one that of indignation and anger. Ultmately he attributed his illness(es) to his bad karmAs (actions).
I only wish to point out that howsoever great a philosopher may be, he has to fit himself into the behavioral structure of a monetized and capitalist of society. This mosquito net usage of shri rAmakrishna, we can compare to his disciple swAmi vivEkAnanda's temptation to a battery-operated fan (presumably a table fan, he found in United States. Readers may see about this battery-fan, in vivEkAnanda's letter to alasinga, swAmIjI's disciple from South India. I have already written about Shri rAmakrishna's using shoes and a richman's dress, in another blog post.
✕Now: If Shri rAmakrishnNa were to live in the 21st Century India, would he have used air-condtioners, helicopters, air conditioned cars, curl-on mattresses or not? Most of our jagadgurus (preceptors to the whole world) and pIThAdhipatis (heads of chairs) use them!
✖What is the fate of the arguments which have taken place among NTV (a telugu language channel), ABN Andhra Jyothi Channel, and Shri swAmi swaroopAnanda of visAkhapatnam, about some scams and blackmailing? The owners of NTV and bhakti TV as well as the ABN Andhra Jyothi TV seem now to patronise more the SringEri jagadguru. Latest in the series of this patronage, we can see in guru vandanam program at lalita kaLA tOraNam, Hyderabad, on 14th Dec. 2012. The TTD is also an active participant in this deification of humans. Many high-court and supreme court judges have been and are devotees of various swAmijis in India.
✔Ans: Will it be wrong for us to expect non-earthly and non-humanly qualities from those persons whom we attribute divinity and unmanly greatness?
✔This post may have to be re-edited and softened, if it seriously hurts the feelings of readers. I can only assure the readers that there is no 'anyamata pracAram' (propaganda of other religions) in this.
I am interested only in facts, and any reasonable observations/derivations we can make from the facts and nothing beyond that. To whichever religion, God-persons and prophets may belong to, their living has to conform to what is represented in their deification. If some prophet is represented as a great compassionate emissary of God, with a lamb in his arms, we cannot expect him to arrange or participate in a feast or barbecue or just dining, the very next day, using that lamb or some other lamb.
I apologise to my readers in advance, if I cause them an unintended hurt. I also wish to make it very clear that I am an ordinary human being with ordinary human strengths and weaknesses, which may be worse than the habits of my own readers. The enzymes, hormones, pheromones, the food we eat, the books we read, the internet stuff we see, everything else whether mentioned here or not, make us to behave in bizarre ways.
I am not actually interested in the behaviors of God-men, whether good or bad behaviors.
✔I am more interested in finding out solutions to problems which arise from the Capitalist compulsions of this society, which makes people to shoot one's own mother, carrying three guns, then go to a school and kill 28 people in a binge of shooting. I believe that it is high time for me to discontinue this 'shri rAmakrishNa blog', just as it is high time for sachIn TenDUlkar to retire. This blog is serving no useful purpose.
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