Sarat Chandra, a disciple of Swami Vivekananda, has done an act of wonderful Daanam, 'giving to others the spiritual knowledge'. He recorded his conversations with Swamiji. In one of the conversations, he is asking, perhaps representing all of us:
“Disciple :—Did Sri Ramakrishna out of his own lips ever say that he was God, the all-perfect Brahman?”
And what was Swamiji's reply?
”Swamiji:—Yes, he did so many times. And he said this to all of us. One day while he was staying at the Cossipore garden, his body in imminent danger of falling off for ever, by the side of his bed I was saying in my mind, “Well, now if you can declare that you are God, then only will I believe you are really God Himself.'' It was only two days before he passed away. Immediately, he looked up towards me all on a sudden and said, “He who was Rama, He who was Krishna, verily is He now Ramakrishna in this body. And that not merely from the standpoint of your Vedanta !”* At this I was struck dumb.
"Even we haven't had yet the perfect faith, after hearing it again and again from the holy lips of our Lord himself —our minds still get disturbed now and then with doubt and despair—and so, what shall we speak oi others being slow to believe? It is indeed a very difficult matter to be able to declare and believe a man with a body like ours to be God Himself. We may just go to the length of declaring him to be a “perfected one,” or a “knower of Brahman.”
Well, it matters nothing, whatever you may call him or think of him, a saint or a knower of Brahman, or anything. But take it from me, never did come to this earth such an all-perfect man as Sri Ramakrishna ! In the utter darkness of the world this great man is like the shining pillar of illumination in this age I And by his light alone will man now cross the ocean of Samsara I"
(Talks with Swami Vivekananda, pp 43, 44 , 2nd Ed., 1946, Advaita Ashrama )
If even such a soul like Swami Vivekananda expresses the difficulty in such a manner, you should not blame me then, if I run into dejected moods of negation and doubt. Poor me! Manifestation of Divinity in human being! Not a wonder if SriKrishna calls this knowledge special and Raja Vidya Raja Guhyam, the great secret and the great science.
Srirangam Mohanarangan
***
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