Sri Ramakrishna and Veda Vyasa saying the same thing

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was living in Dakshineswar and he used to visit people of merit and goodness like Keshab Chandra Sen, Iswara Chandra Vidyasagar and others. Feelings of pride and reservation were absent in him. He used to slip into ecstatic states, totally forgetting the surroundings and even his body, due to any chance reason like divine names, divine songs or even remote kindling of divine sentiments. Last five or six years of his life till 1886 have been recorded as detailed conversations by M, the Master Mahasay Mahendranath Gupta, the school headmaster, who came into contact with Sri Ramakrishna in 1881. His detailed records of the conversations of Sri Ramakrishna were brought out in five volumes by M himself as Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita. It was later translated into English and brought out as a chronologically single book, beautifully edited by Swami Nikhilananda in 1942 under the title 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna'. 

From that time onwards, the book remains one of the core books of great guidance-value for any mystic or spiritually inclined person in the whole world, of any nationality or culture. Dialogues of Plato, Enneads of Plotinus, Bhagavad Vishayam commentaries of Tiruvaimozhi, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharishi, The Life Divine of Sri Aurobindo and so goes on the list of the essential mystic library and in that, an important place is occupied by The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. 

In The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, coming to the date of August 5, 1882 we see, recorded by M, an interesting meeting of Sri Ramakrishna with Iswara Chandra Vidyasagar. Sri Ramakrishna as usual with his custom, is visiting Vidyasagar. Sri Ramakrishna perhaps as a pleasant remark, says that 'at last he has come to the ocean', punning on the word Vidyasagar - Ocean of Knowledge. Vidyasagar is also very much alive to the humor, replying back that Sri Ramakrishna can take back perhaps a little salt water from the ocean. With a jovial start the conversation proceeds. In that conversation Sri Ramakrishna is saying a very beautiful thing on the Ultimate Transcendent Supreme Reality, Brahman, which is truly beyond words and thoughts. Here follows M's record of his words: 

"Vidyasagar was very reticent about giving religious instruction to others. He had studied Hindu philosophy. Once, when M. had asked him his opinion of it, Vidyasagar had said, “I think the philosophers have failed to explain what was in their minds." But in his daily life he followed all the rituals of Hindu religion and wore the sacred thread of a brahmin. About God he had once declared: “It is indeed impossible to know Him. What, then, should be our duty? It seems to me that we should live in such a way that, if others followed our example, this very earth would be heaven. Everyone should try to do good to the world." 

Sri Ramakrishna's conversation now turned to the Knowledge of Brahman. 

MASTER : “Brahman is beyond vidya and avidya, knowledge and ignorance. It is beyond maya, the illusion of duality. ..... 

"What Brahman is cannot be described. All things in the world - the Vedas, the Puranas, the Tantras, the six systems of philosophy - have been defiled, like food that has been touched by the tongue, for they have been read or uttered by the tongue. Only one thing has not been defiled in this way, and that is Brahman. No one has ever been able to say what Brahman is.” 

VIDYASAGAR (to his friends): “Oh! That is a remarkable statement. I have learnt something new today.” 

(The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, pp 101 -102, First Ed., 1942, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai - 4) 

This has a very close parallel with something recorded in Vayu Purana, way back millennia ago regarding Veda Vyasa. The sages like Saunaka and others are conversing with Suta, the Pauranika regarding an important matter. They have all heard Suta recite the eighteen puranas in entirety and they have had detailed discussions on Vedanta, Sankhya and other systems of philosophy. But something, they feel, has been left out unsaid. Either Vyasa should have refrained from telling that or Suta, most loyal to Vyasa, should have concealed that last piece of knowledge. And who else they can ask if not Suta? 

" O Suta, O blessed one, eighteen Puranas have been entirely narrated along with the connected anecdotes in the manner of Upakrama (beginning) and Upasamhara (conclusion), by you, the holy one, who have understood all the sacred texts by the favour of Vyasa. 

" It is not known whether there is or not anything beyond this that is excellent and worth knowing. Could it be that Vyasa or you, holy sir, are hiding anything ? Please clear our doubts in this respect, since you are a complete Pauranika (knower of Puranas)." 

(original slokas: 

Etat anyaccha vividham purANEshu nirUpitam | 

ata: param kimapi asti na vA bOddhavyam uttamam || 

na jnAyEta yadi vyAsO gOpayEt atha vA bhavAn | 

atra na: samsayam chindhi pUrNa: paurANikO yata: ||) 

Suta replied to Saunaka: "It is a difficult question you have asked. It is a very secret matter difficult to broach. After doing all the Puranas, even Vyasa, the great son of Parasara, began to enquire in his meditations, this secret transcendent purport of all the Vedas." 

(atigOpyataram divyam anAkyEyam prachakshatE 

parAsara sutO vyAsa: kritvA paurANikIm kathAm 

 sarvavEdArtha ghaditAm chintayAmAsa chEtasI) 

Vyasa racked his brain as to the ultimate transcendent meaning of the Supreme Reality as taught in the Vedas. 

(srutyarthE samsayApannO vyAsa: satyavatI suta: 

vichArayAmAsa chiram na prapEdE yathAtatham) 

In a cave Vyasa did his meditation for a long time but at last he was made to understand one thing. The Supreme Reality or the Supreme Transcendent Being or Brahman is beyond texts, beyond words, beyond mind. All the texts are 'touched by tongue'. But Brahman or the Supreme Being alone remains untouched by words or thoughts. It is portrayed very poetically in Vayu Purana that the Vedas took a form and appeared before Vyasa and told him the very same thing which Sri Ramakrishna was telling Vidyasagar in our excerpt. 

(tasyA AtmanOpi AtmabhAvatayA pushpasya gandhavat 

rasavadvA sthitam rUpam avEhi paramam hi tat 

na cha tatra vayaam saktA: sabdAtItE tadAtmakA: ) 

Vedas: 'we are not capable of telling you the Ultimate Reality' 

So many thousands of years separate the two records, one by Vayu Purana, by Suta about Vyasa and another in our times by M about Sri Ramakrishna talking to Vidyasagar. The topic is the same - Brahman. The conclusion and the teaching is the same - Brahman is untouched by the tongue. How parallel the occasions and the great personages! 

Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

Sri Ramakrishna's teaching is the message taught in Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, born in 1836, in Kamarpukur, West Bengal, was a great man of God. Even from his very boyhood years he evinced deep devotion and intense involvement in Divine Mother Kali. His biographies tell us that he attained God Realisation in the form of 'Seeing and talking to Kali face to face'. When Narendra Nath, who later became Swami Vivekananda, approached him and asked whether Sri Ramakrishna has seen God directly, Sri Ramakrishna replied to him as a matter of fact that he had seen God in a very real and palpable way. The sincerity and truthfulness that were evident in the sage's words attracted Narendra Nath more than anything else. Later in 1896, Swami gave a lecture on his master Sri Ramakrishna, captioned as 'My Master'. In it he says: 

" I heard of this man, and I went to hear him. He looked just like an ordinary man, with nothing remarkable about him. He used the most simple language, and I thought “Can this man be a great teacher?” - crept near to him and asked him the question which I had been asking others all my life: “Do you believe in God, Sir?” “Yes,” he replied. “Can you prove it, Sir?” “Yes.” “How?” “Because I see Him just as I see you here, only in a much intenser sense.” That impressed me at once. For the first time I found a man who dared to say that he saw God, that religion was a reality to be felt, to be sensed in an infinitely more intense way than we can sense the world. I began to go to that man, day after day, and I actually saw that religion could be given. One touch, one glance, can change a whole life." 

Sri Ramakrishna was considered as an incarnation of God by many ardent devotees. Did Narendra Nath also think of Sri Ramakrishna in the same way? To think of God as 'very much real' should have been in itself a problem to a modern educated youth, who was firm in applying reason to any problem. Not to speak of the idea that a human being just like us can be thought of as an incarnation ! What should have been the mentality of Narendra Nath then or later when he became a Swami, is an interesting information. Later when Swami Vivekananda was talking to one of his disciples, Sarat Chandra Chakravarty, the conversation goes on like this: 

"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 of 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, we need not be shy of our doubts or hesitations. 

Sri Ramakrishna's teachings throw an enormous light of clarity both in the socially active arenas of religions and also in mystical progress of individual, spiritual aspirations. By his advent, the whole field of Religion as it were is made simple and correlated with human development. What were once, the bases of endless wranglings and debates before, have now become instances of aesthetic variety and appreciation. Regarding the existence of many religions and methods of worship, Sri Ramakrishna's teachings are so clarifying and ennobling! 

"In a potter's shop there are vessels of different shapes and forms - pots, jars, dishes, plates, etc. - but all made of the same clay. So God is one, but He is worshipped in different ages and climes under different names and aspects." 

"As the same sugar is made into various figures, of birds and beasts, so the one sweet Divine Mother is worshipped in, various climes and ages under various
names and forms." 

"Various ornaments are made of gold. Although the substance is the same, they are called variously and appear different m form. So one and the same God is
worshipped in different countries and ages under different names and forms. He may be worshipped in various ways according to different conceptions - some loving to call Him as father and others as mother, some as friend and others as beloved, some again as the innermost treasure of their heart and others as their sweet little child - but it is always one and the same God that is worshipped in all
these diverse relations." 

"Once a dispute arose among the learned men at the court of the Maharajah of Burdwan as to who was the greater of the two Deities, Siva and Vishnu. Some of the courtiers said that Siva was greater, while the others gave preference to Vishnu. When the dispute grew hot, a wise Pandit remarked, “ Sir, I have seen neither Siva nor Vishnu. How can I say who is the greater of the two? Similarly, do not try to compare one Deity with another. When you will see one of them, you will come to know that they are all the manifestations of the same Brahman." (Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna, Seventh Rev Ed., Advaita Ashrama) 

What Sri Ramakrishna has taught is not only original but also proves to be a great way of bringing back alive the ancient messages that lie forgotten in Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas. This point I will illustrate in this essay by references from the scriptures. Even the Rig Veda clearly states even at such an early date, that 'the Supremely Existing Being is only One; only the sages describe it in various ways as Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, Suparna, Yama, Matarisvan etc.' (R.V.10.164.46). Sayana also in his commentary on Rig Veda, in his introduction itself elaborates on this point quoting this very same hymn from the Rig Veda itself and comments on it in this way :'It is the One Supreme God who is worshipped in various names like Indra, Mitra, Varuna etc. as stated in the hymn (R.V.10.164.46). To quote his original text: 

"tasmAt 'sahasra siirshA purusha:' ityuktAt paramEswarAt yajnAt yajanIyAt pUjanIyAt sarvahuta: sarvai: hUyamAnAt | yadyapi indrAdaya: tatra tatra hUyantE tathApi paramEswarasya Eva indrAdi rUpENa avasthAnAt avirOda:.." 

In Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (Br U I.4.6) also the same message is conveyed more or less in the same words. While discussing about various yajnas or worships conducted for various deities, the Rishi openly says that even though in ordinary parlance people are talking 'do yajna for this deity; do yajna for that deity', as if they are doing all these worships to various different deities, they do not know in reality that all these worships go to the One Supreme Soul and there is no difference really in deities. All the deities are simply various forms of the One Supreme Spirit. To quote the text of the Upanishad: 

"thadyat idam Ahu: amum yaja amum yaja iti Ekaikam dEvam Etasya Eva sA visrushti: Esha u hi Eva sarvE dEvA:" 

The commentary of Sri Adisankara is very elucidating: 'It is the same Supreme Being who stands in the forms of all the deities.' 

"..yasmAt Etasya Eva prAjApatE: sA visrushti: dEvabhEda: sarva:" 

In the Puranas also the same concept viz., the One Supreme Being assumes different forms for the sake of Anugraha (Grace) is explained in different places. In the Vayu Purana, when the sages ask Suta a difficult question, the same answer is given. 

The sages asked: 'who is the greatest among Brahma, Vishnu and Siva?' 

Suta answers: 

'Just as the crystal jewel assumes various colours due to its purity, and as a result of the contact with other objects, the colours and sizes being in accordance with those objects, so also the self-born assumes shapes and sizes due to the Gunas. In its singleness and separateness this is the example cited.' 

'Just as the cloud, though single, remains (or seems) different in colour and form so also the self-born Lord, though single one, assumes different forms due to Gunas and appears single, double or triple. The single entity has the three forms of Brahma (the creator), Anniihilator and Purusa.' 

'These three bodies are remembered as those of the single self-born Lord. The three bodies are Brahma, Purusha and Antakari.' 

'One among them, the Rajasa body creates all the subjects; the Sattvika one staying in the ocean, blesses; and the Tamasa one swallows the subjects and overthrows them at the proper time.' 

To quote the original slokas: 

" Rishis: prajApatEscha vishNOscha bhavasya cha mahAtmana: | 

antaram jnAtum icchAmO yascha yasmAt visishyatE || 

 

Suta:  maNirvibhajatE varNAn vichitrAn spatikE yathA | 

vaimalyAt AsrayavasAt tatvarNa: syAt tadanjana: || 

tadA guNavasAt tasya svayambhO: anuranjanam | 

EkatvE cha pruthaktvE cha prOktam Etat nidarsanam || 

EkO bhUtvA yathA mEgha: prutakthvEna avatishthatE | 

rUpatO varNataschaiva tathA guNavasAt tu sa: || 

bhavatyEkO dvidhAchaiva tridhA mUrti vinAsanAt | 

ekO brahmA antakruchchaiva purushaschEti yE traya: || 

EkA tu kurutE tAsAm rAjasI sarvata: prajA: | 

EkA chaivArNavasthA tu sA anugruhNAti sAtvikI || 

EkA sA kshipatE kAlE tAmasI grasatE prajA: || " 

The wonderful teaching of Sri Ramakrishna is literally, word to word, borne testimony by Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas as is seen from what I have illustrated by references. 

Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***