Ramakrishna 422504 224232967 2008-07-07T22:32:34Z Synthebot 3658625 robot Adding: [[ia:Ramakrishna]] {{otheruses}} {{Infobox Person | name = Śri Ramakṛiṣṇa Paramahamsa| image = Ramakrishna.jpg|thumb| caption = Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa| dead = dead | birth_date = {{birth date|1836|2|18|mf=y}}| birth_place = [[Kamarpukur]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]]| death_date = {{death date and age|1886|8|16|1836|2|18|df=y}}| death_place = Garden House in [[Cossipore]]. }} '''Śri Ramakṛiṣṇa Paramahamsa''' ([[Bangla]]: রামকৃষ্ণ পরমহংস ''Ramkrishno Pôromôhongsho'') ([[February 18]], [[1836]] - [[August 16]], [[1886]]), born '''Gadadhar Chattopadhyay''' ([[Bangla]]: গদাধর চট্টোপাধ্যায় ''Gôdadhor Chôţţopaddhae''), <ref name="ninian">Smart, Ninian ''The World’s Religions'' (1998) p.409, Cambridge</ref> was a rustic [[Bengali]] [[Religious ecstasy|religious ecstatic]]<ref>Narasingha P. Sil, "Vivekananda's Ramakrishna: An Untold Story of Mythmaking and Propaganda" ''Numen'' 40 (1): Jan 1993 p 38-62 "However, the transformation of Ramakrishna from religious ecstatic to a religious eclectic, especially a Vedantin prophet of the highest caliber, is an interesting development that calls for a closer scrutiny."</ref> who practiced [[Vaishnava]] and [[Shaktism|Shakti]] ''[[bhakti]]'', [[Vedanta]], [[Tantra]], and other spiritual disciplines. Toward the end of his life, he became a [[guru]] to [[bhadralok|Anglicized Bengalis]]<ref>Jeanne Openshaw, [http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=161271&sectioncode=40 "The mystic and the rustic"] ''[[Times Higher Education]]'' 15 December 1995 "Towards the end of the last century, a rural Bengali priest of the goddess Ka-lu- became an object of fascination for the anglicised gentry of Calcutta."</ref>, including Narendranath Dutta—the future [[Swami Vivekananda]]—and also became an influential figure in the [[Bengal Renaissance]].<ref>{{cite journal | quotes = no | author = Sumit Sarkar | date = 1999 | title = Post-Modernism and the Writing of History | journal = Studies in History | volume = 15 | issue = 2 | pages = 293–322 | publisher = SAGE Publications | url = http://sih.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/15/2/293.pdf | quote = Finding traces in the ''Kathamrita'' of a learned literate knowledge/unlearned oral wisdom binary, I had seen it as evidence of a liminal moment, where a rustic near-illiterate Brahmin becomes the guru of highly educated ''bhadralok''. | doi = 10.1177/025764309901500205}}</ref> He was considered an [[avatar]] or incarnation of God by many of his disciples, and is considered as such by many of his devotees today. Though recent academic scholarship has concentrated on, among other things, aspects of his sexuality,<ref>McLean 1983; Kakar 1991; Sil 1991, 1998, 2003; Larson 1997; Radice 1998; Kripal 1998; Hatcher 1999</ref> the [[Ramakrishna Mission]] and other scholars have criticized the work of these scholars.<ref>Bhattacharya, "Kali's Child: Psychological And Hermeneutical Problems", Tyagananda 2000; Roland, "The Uses (and Misuses) Of Psychoanalysis in South Asian Studies: Mysticism and Child Development", 2002</ref> ==Biographical sources== Ramakrishna never wrote down the details of his own life. Some say that he was illiterate or semi-literate.<ref>Narasingha P. Sil, "Vivekananda's Ramakrishna: An Untold Story of Mythmaking and Propaganda" ''Numen'' 40 (1): Jan 1993 p 61</ref> Thus, everything that we know about Ramakrishna comes through the writings of his disciples. Additionally, only a few of the primary sources have been translated into English and scholars find those translations to be highly problematic.<ref>Sil, 1993; Hatcher, 1999; McLean, 1983; Radice, 1995; Kripal 1998</ref> There are four major sources of information for the life of Ramakrishna: *[[Ram Chandra Datta]]'s 1885 ''Srisriramakrsna Paramahamsadever Jivanavrttanta'' ("The Life of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa")<ref>Amiya P. Sen, "Sri Ramakrishna, the ''Kathamrita'' and the Calcutta middle Classes: an old problematic revisited" ''Postcolonial Studies'', 9: 2 p 176</ref> *[[Akshay Kumar Sen]]'s 1901 ''Śrīśrīrāmkṛṣṇa Punthi'' ("Scripture of Sri Ramakishna") *[[Mahendranath Gupta]]'s 1902-32 ''[[Sri-Sri-Ramakrisnakathamrta|Sri-Sri-Ramakrisna-kathamrta]]'' ("Words of Nectar of Sri Ramakrishna") *[[Swami Saradananda]]'s 1911 ''Sri Sri Ramakrishna Lilaprasanga'' ("[[Lila|Divine Play]] of Sri Ramakishna") There are also other sources, such as Vivekananda's 1896 biographical lecture "My Master", Mahendranath Dutta's ''Sri Ramakrishner Anudhyan'', ("Sacred Memories of Sri Ramakrishna")<ref>Amiya P. Sen, "Sri Ramakrishna, the ''Kathamrita'' and the Calcutta middle Classes: an old problematic revisited" ''Postcolonial Studies'', 9: 2 p 176</ref>, Satyacharan Mitra's 1897 ''Sri Sri Ramakrsna Paramahamsadeber Jiboni o Upadesh'' ("The Life and Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa")<ref>Amiya P. Sen, "Sri Ramakrishna, the ''Kathamrita'' and the Calcutta middle Classes: an old problematic revisited" ''Postcolonial Studies'', 9: 2 p 176</ref>, and Sureshchandra Datta's 1886 ''Sriramakrsnadeber Upades'' ("Teachings of SriRamakrishna"). ===Datta's ''Jivanavrttānta''=== In November of 1894, Vivekananda wrote his disciple [[Alasingha Perumal]] a letter, calling Datta's ''Jivanavrttānta'' "nonsense", saying that he was "simply ashamed" of it, and giving specific instructions regarding how to write a biography of Ramakrishna (non-bracketed ellipses are in the translation): :Avoid all irregular indecent expressions about sex etc...because other nations think it the height of indecency to mention such things, and his life in English is going to be read by the whole world.[...]The writer perhaps thought he was a frank recorder of truth and keeping the very language of Paramahamsa. But he does not remember that Ramakrishna would never use that language before ladies. And this man expects his work to be read by men and women alike! Lord, save me from fools! They, again, have their own freaks; they all knew him! Bosh and rot....<ref>Wikisource, [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_5/Epistles_-_First_Series/XXII_Alasinga The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 5, XXII]. There are ellipses in the edition of Vivekananda's letters from which this text is quoted. It seems that text has been removed by the editors. My ellipses are bracketed.</ref> On the same day, Vivekananda wrote [[Singaravelu Mudaliar]] ("Kidi"): :...As to the wonderful stories published about Shri Ramakrishna, I advise you to keep clear of them and the fools who write them. They are true, but the fools will make a mess of the whole thing, I am sure. He had a whole world of knowledge to teach, why insist upon unnecessary things as miracles really are! They do not prove anything.<ref>Ellipses are in the translation of Vivekananda's letters. [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_5/Epistles_-_First_Series/XXIII_Kidi The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 5]</ref> Religious scholar [[Jeffrey Kripal]] says that, although the Ramakrishna Order produced a Bengali version of the ''Jivanavrttānta'' in 1995, the Ramakrishna Mission has suppressed the book in the past, and that Datta was threatened with a lawsuit when the book was originally published.<ref>Jeffrey Kripal, [http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kalischi/pale.html "Pale Plausibilities: A Preface for the Second Edition"] "I have also, I believe, overplayed the degree to which the tradition has suppressed Datta's Jivanavrttanta. Indeed, to my wonder (and embarrassment), the [[Ramakrishna Order]] reprinted Datta's text the very same summer ''Kali's Child'' appeared, rendering my original claims of a conscious concealment untenable with respect to the present (but still solidly in place with respect to the past--Datta, after all, faced a possible lawsuit, and Satyacharan Mitra, Ramakrishna's "second biographer," hints that many were deeply troubled and offended by earlier treatments of Ramakrishna's life, a likely reference to Datta's text)."</ref> According to [[Narasingha Sil]], Datta's ''Jivanvrttanta'' is the most scandalous biography of Ramakrishna, "containing the lurid details of his ''[[sadhana]]'' as well as his quite suggestive encounters with his patron Mathur."<ref>Narasingha P. Sil, "Vivekananda's Ramakrishna: An Untold Story of Mythmaking and Propaganda" ''Numen'' 40 (1): Jan 1993 p 38-62</ref> According to Somnath Bhattacharyya, Datta's ''Jivanavrittanta'' has not been translated into English.<ref>"The point is, unlike the LP the much smaller Jivanavrittanta text remains as yet untranslated into English, and Kripal can safely read and translate it to his convenience." [http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/s_rv/s_rv_bhatt_kali_frameset.htm "Kali's Child: Psychological And Hermeneutical Problems"]</ref> ===Vivekananda's "My Master"=== Vivekananda gave two lectures on Ramakrishna in 1896, one in England, and a second in New York. These were later combined and published as “My Master”.<ref> Marie Louise Burke, ''Swami Vivekananda in The West: New Discoveries'' (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1984), Vol 3, p 530</ref> Marie Louise Burke calls the New York lecture “a clarion call to renunciation, combined with a scorching indictment of Western hedonism.”<ref> Burke, ibid.</ref> Narasingha Sil doubts its reliablility as a source for information about Ramakrishna's life, describing it as "shot through with the author's very personalized interpretation of Ramakrishna's preachings and teaching and his claims on behalf of the Ramakrishna phenomenon.”<ref>Sil, "Vivekananda's Ramakrishna", 55</ref> ===1897 edition of ''The Gospel of Ramakrishna''=== There was an English translation of portions of Gupta's diary published in 1897 as ''The Gospel of Ramakrishna''. Vivekananda registered his dislike of it in a letter to Swami Trigunatitananda and his subsequent exuberant praise of it in letters to Gupta.<ref>"But when he read M's own translation of his diary as ''The Gospel of Ramakrishna'' in 1896, probably in manuscript form before its printing in 1897, he did not like the stuff Mahendranath had written...However, the Svami executed a ''volte face'' the next year." Narasingha P. Sil, "Vivekananda's Ramakrishna: An Untold Story of Mythmaking and Propaganda" ''Numen'' 40 (1): Jan 1993 p 52</ref> ===Sen's ''Punthi''=== The 1901 edition of Sen's poetic biography of Ramakrishna incorporated all four parts of his ''Bhagaban Srisriramakrsna Paramahamsadeber Caritamrta'', which were written from 1894-1901<ref>Sil, "Vivekananda's Ramakrishna", p 60</ref>. Vivekananda loved the 1894 edition. "I cannot tell in words the joy I have experienced by reading the book," he wrote. However, he also offered editorial suggestions for future editions of Sen's poem.<ref>Narasingha P. Sil, "Vivekananda's Ramakrishna: An Untold Story of Mythmaking and Propaganda" ''Numen'' 40 (1): Jan 1993 p 50</ref> It has been translated into English as ''A Portrait of Sri Ramakrishna''. ===Gupta's ''Kathamrta''=== By far the best known source is Gupta's ''Kathamrta'', which consists of five volumes published in 1902, 1905, 1908, 1910 and 1932. It contains vivid descriptions of dialogue between Ramakrishna, his disciples, and visitors. These scenes were recalled or re-imagined by Gupta from notes in his personal diary. Each of the five volumes recapitulates the last six years of Ramakrishna's life. Naransingha Sil speculates that Gupta did not dare to publish the ''Kathamrta'' while Vivekananda was still alive.<ref>Narasingha P. Sil, "Vivekananda's Ramakrishna: An Untold Story of Mythmaking and Propaganda" ''Numen'' 40 (1): Jan 1993 p 50</ref> It was translated into English in 1942 as ''The Gospel of Ramakrishna'' by [[Swami Nikhilananda]] of the Ramakrishna Mission. Although Nikhilananda calls ''The Gospel'' "a literal translation," he substantially altered Gupta's text, combining the five parallel narratives into a single volume (which is often sold as a two-volume set), as well as deleting some passages which he claimed were "of no particular interest to English-speaking readers."<ref>Kripal 1995, (329-336)</ref> According to William Radice, this "standard translation of the ''Kathamrta'' by Swami Nikhilananda is [[bowdlerized]], with the 'vulgar expressions' in Ramakrishna's earthy, rustic Bengali either removed or smoothed over: so that 'raman' (sexual intercourse) has become "communion" in the ''Gospel''.'"<ref>William Radice[http://www.williamradice.com/], untitled review of ''Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahaṁsa: A Psychological Profile'' by Narasingha P. Sil ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London, Vol. 58, No. 3, (1995), pp. 589-590 Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies http://www.jstor.org/stable/620150</ref> In a review of ''Kali's Child'', religious scholar Brian Hatcher noted that a passage in the ''Kathamrta'' in which Ramakrishna describes how he "...could not resist worshipping the penises of boys with flowers and sandalwood paste" was paraphrased by Nikhilananda as: "I practiced a number of mystic postures" <ref>The Nikhilananda quotation is from 1996: 814. Brian A. Hatcher, "Kali's Problem Child: Another look at Jeffrey Kripal's study of Sri Ramakrishna" ''International Journal of Hindu Studies'' '''3''': 2 (Aug 1999), p 170-171 The Bengali is as follows: "... cheleder dhan, phul-candan diye pūjā nā ka'rle thākte pārtām na (Gupta 1987, 4:232)"</ref> Malcolm McLean of [[Otago University]] translated the entire ''Kathamrta'' as his 1983 dissertation, entitled ''A Translation of Sri-Sri-Ramakrsna-Kathamrta with Explanatory Notes and Critical Introduction''. Only a few copies of this work exist.<ref>Jeffrey Kripal, "From the Heart" http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kalischi/</ref> ===Saradananda's ''Lilaprasanga''=== [[Swami Saradananda]], a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, first wrote the ''Sri Sri Ramakrishna Lilaprasanga'' in five volumes to correct what he felt were misconceptions about Ramakrishna as well as to pay off a financial debt he had incurred to build the Udbodhan office.{{Fact|date=April 2008}} In 1952, the ''Lilaprasanga'' was translated into English as ''Sri Ramakrishna the Great Master'' by [[Swami Jagadananda]], a monk of the Ramakrishna Order. In 2003, the ''Lilaprasanga'' was re-translated by [[Swami Chetanananda]], also of the Ramakrishna Order, as ''Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play''. It is considered the definitive biography of Ramakrishna by the Ramakrishna Mission.{{Fact|date=April 2008}} Sil says that "In spite of its stark [[hagiography|hagiographical]] character, the ''Great Master'' contains a mine of information."<ref>Sil 1991, 8</ref> Elsewhere, Sil speculates that "It is quite possible that Saradananda's ''Lilaprasanga'' was influenced by Vivekananda's ideas and suggestions."<ref>Narasingha P. Sil, "Vivekananda's Ramakrishna: An Untold Story of Mythmaking and Propaganda" ''Numen'' 40 (1): Jan 1993 p 50</ref> ==Biography== ===Birth and childhood=== Various supernatural incidents are recounted by Saradananda in connection with Ramakrishna’s birth. It is said that Kshudiram, Ramakrishna’s father, named him Gadadhar in response to a dream he had had in [[Gaya, India|Gaya]] before Ramakrishna’s birth, in which Lord Gadadhara, the form of [[Vishnu]] worshipped at Gaya, appeared to him and told him he would be born as his son. Chandramani Devi, Ramakrishna’s mother, is said to have had a vision of light entering her womb before Ramakrishna was born. Even in his childhood, some villagers considered Ramakrishna to be an incarnation of God. According to his biographers, Ramakrishna was born in the village of [[Kamarpukur]], in the [[Hooghly district]] of [[West Bengal]], into a very poor but pious [[brahmin]] family. The young Ramakrishna, known as Gadadhar, was an extremely popular figure in his village. He was considered handsome and had a natural gift for the fine arts. However, he disliked attending school, and was not interested in earning money. As he was growing up, he was barely literate.<ref name="roy">Parama Roy, ''Indian Traffic: Identities in Question in Colonial and Post-Colonial India'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998</ref> He loved nature and spent much time in fields and fruit orchards outside the village with his friends. He would visit with wandering monks who stopped in Kamarpukur on their way to [[Puri (city)|Puri]]. He would serve them and listen to their religious debates with rapt attention. When arrangements for Gadadhar to be invested with the [[Upanayanam|sacred thread]] were nearly complete, he declared that he would have his first alms from a certain [[Shudra|low-caste]] woman of the village, as he had promised this to her. This was met with firm opposition from Gadadhar’s family, as tradition required that the first alms be received from a brahmin, but the boy was adamant that a promise made could not be broken. Finally, Ramkumar, his eldest brother and head of the family after the passing away of their father, gave in. Meanwhile, the family's financial position worsened every day. Ramkumar ran a [[Sanskrit]] school in [[Calcutta]] and also served as a [[purohit]] priest in some families. About this time, [[Rani Rashmoni]], a rich woman of Calcutta who belonged to the [[untouchable]] ''[[kaivarta]]'' community,<ref>Amiya P. Sen, "Sri Ramakrishna, the ''Kathamrita'' and the Calcutta middle Classes: an old problematic revisited" ''Postcolonial Studies'', 9: 2 p 176</ref> founded a [[Dakshineswar Kali Temple|temple at Dakshineswar]]. She approached Ramkumar to serve as priest at the temple of [[Kali]] and Ramkumar agreed. Ramkumar recruited assistants among his relatives, including Gadadhar, who agreed only after some persuasion and was given the task of decorating the deity. When Ramkumar passed away in 1856, Gadadhar took his place as priest. === Career as priest=== When Gadadhar started worshipping the [[deity]] [[Bhavatarini]], he began to question if he was worshipping a piece of stone or a living [[Goddess]]. If he was worshipping a living Goddess, why should she not respond to his worship? This question nagged him day and night. Then, he began to pray to [[Kali]]: ''"Mother, you've been gracious to many devotees in the past and have revealed yourself to them. Why would you not reveal yourself to me, also? Am I not also your son?"'' He is known to have wept bitterly and sometimes even cry out loudly while worshipping. At night, he would go into a nearby jungle and spend the whole night praying. One day, the famous account goes, he was so impatient to see Mother Kali that he decided to end his life. He seized a sword hanging on the wall and was about to strike himself with it, when he is reported to have seen light issuing from the deity in waves. He is said to have been soon overwhelmed by the waves and fell unconscious on the floor. Gadadhar, however, unsatisfied, prayed to Mother Kali for more religious experiences. He especially wanted to know the truths that other religions taught. Strangely, these teachers came to him when necessary and he is said to have reached the ultimate goals of those religions with ease. Soon word spread about this remarkable man and people of all denominations and all stations of life began to come to him. ===Heterodox religious practices=== At Dakshineswar, Ramakrishna engaged in a practice called ''madhura bhava'', in which he imitated the "sweet mood" of the goddess [[Radha]] waiting for her lover [[Krishna]]. He wore female clothing and jewelry, and imitated female speech and behavior. This practice culminated with a vision of Krishna, in which Krishna's body merged with Ramakrishna's.<ref name="roy">Parama Roy, ''Indian Traffic: Identities in Question in Colonial and Post-Colonial India'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998</ref> He said: :I spent many days as the handmaid of God. I dressed myself in women's clothes, put on ornaments, and covered the upper part of my body with a scarf, just like a woman...Otherwise, how could I have kept my wife with me for eight months? Both of us behaved as if we were the handmaids of the [[Durga|Divine Mother]]. I cannot speak of myself as a man.<ref name="roy">Parama Roy, ''Indian Traffic: Identities in Question in Colonial and Post-Colonial India'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998</ref> For a period, while he was practicing ''[[bhakti]]'', he was supposed to have resembled the monkey-god [[Hanuman]], the servant of [[Rama|Ram]]. He lived on roots and fruit, and a growth which resembled a tail was supposed to have grown from his spine. Later, Ramakrishna experienced the goddess [[Sita]]'s body merging with his own (Sita is the consort of Ram).<ref name="roy">Parama Roy, ''Indian Traffic: Identities in Question in Colonial and Post-Colonial India'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998</ref> At some point, Ramakrishna visited [[Nadia district|Nadia]], the home of [[Chaitanya]] and [[Nityananda]], the 15th-century founders of Bengali [[Gaudiya Vaishnava]] ''[[bhakti]]''. He had an intense vision of two young boys merging into his body.<ref name="roy">Parama Roy, ''Indian Traffic: Identities in Question in Colonial and Post-Colonial India'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998</ref> ===Totapuri and Vedanta=== Ramakrishna was initiated in [[Advaita Vedanta]] by a wandering monk named [[Totapuri]], in the city of [[Dakshineswar]]. Totapuri was "a teacher of masculine strength, a sterner mien, a gnarled physique, and a virile voice". Ramakrishna would soon affectionately address the monk as Nangta or Langta, the "Naked One". Nikhilananda interjects that this is because as a [[sannyasin|renunciate]], Nangta did not wear any clothing.<ref name="nk">Swami Nikhilananda, ''The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna'' (1972), Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, New York</ref> :I [Ramakrishna] said to Totapuri in despair: "It's no good. I will never be able to lift my spirit to the unconditioned state and find myself face to face with the Atman." He [Totapuri] replied severely: "What do you mean you can't? You must!" Looking about him, he found a shard of glass. He took it and stuck the point between my eyes saying: "Concentrate your mind on that point." [...] The last barrier vanished and my spirit immediately precipitated itself beyond the plane of the conditioned. I lost myself in samadhi.<ref name="rolland">Roland, Romain '' The Life of Ramakrishna'' (1984), Advaita Ashram</ref> After the departure of Totapuri, Ramakrishna reportedly remained for six months in a state of absolute contemplation: :For six months in a stretch, I [Ramakrishna] remained in that state from which ordinary men can never return; generally the body falls off, after three weeks, like a mere leaf. I was not conscious of day or night. Flies would enter my mouth and nostrils as they do a dead's body, but I did not feel them. My hair became matted with dust.<ref name="snk">Swami Nikhilananda, ''Ramakrishna, Prophet of New India'', New York, Harper and Brothers, 1942, p. 28.</ref> ===Marriage=== Rumors spread to Kamarpukur that Ramakrishna had gone mad as a result of his over-taxing spiritual exercises at Dakshineswar. Alarmed, neighbors advised Ramakrishna’s mother that he be persuaded to marry, so that he might be more conscious of his responsibilities to the family. Far from objecting to the marriage, he, in fact, mentioned [[Jayrambati]], three miles to the north-west of Kamarpukur, as being the village where the bride could be found at the house of one Ramchandra Mukherjee. The five-year-old bride, [[Sarada Devi|Sarada]], was found and the marriage was duly solemnised in 1859.<ref name=dowager>Sil, ''Divine Dowager'', p. 42</ref> Ramakrishna was 23 at this point, but the age difference was typical for 19th century rural Bengal. Ramakrishna left Sarada in December 1860 and did not return until May 1867.<ref name=dowager>Sil, ''Divine Dowager'', p. 42</ref> According to the [[Ramakrishna Mission]], Sarada was Ramakrishna’s first disciple. He attempted to teach her everything he had learned from his various gurus. She is believed to have mastered every religious secret as quickly as Ramakrishna had. Impressed by her religious potential, he began to treat her as the [[Shakti|Universal Mother]] Herself and performed a ''[[puja]]'' considering Sarada as a veritable [[Tripura Sundari]] [[Devi]]. ===Yogeshwari and Tantra=== In 1861, a female guru named [[Yogeshwari]] appeared at Dakshineshwar. Reportedly, she taught Ramakrishna 64 [[Tantra|Tantric]] ''[[sadhana]]s''. She tried to teach him ''[[kumari]]-[[puja]]'' ("virgin worship"), &mdash; which reportedly can include ritualized [[copulation]] with a young girl &mdash; but Ramakrishna fainted.<ref name=dowager>Sil, ''Divine Dowager'', p. 42</ref> Datta said: "We have heard many tales of the ''[[Brahmin|brahmani]]'' but we hesitate to divulge them to the public."<ref name=dowager>Sil, ''Divine Dowager'', p. 42</ref> Sarada, now a young woman, heard rumors of Ramakrishna's bizarre practices and came to Dakshineshwar to protect him from Yogeshwari. They began to relate to each other as husband and wife, but did not consummate their marriage, due to Ramakrishna's severe asceticism.<ref name=dowager>Sil, ''Divine Dowager'', p. 42</ref> ===Islam and Christianity=== In 1866, [[Govinda Roy]], a Hindu guru who practiced [[Sufism]], initiated Ramakrishna into [[Islam]]. According to [[Christopher Isherwood]], Ramakrishna said: :I devoutly repeated the name of [[Allah]], wore a cloth like the [[Arab]] [[Moslems]], said their prayer five time daily, and felt disinclined even to see images of the Hindu gods and goddesses, much less worship them&mdash;for the Hindu way of thinking had disappeared altogether from my mind. His Muslim practices culminated in Ramakrishna experiencing the prophet [[Muhammad]] merging with his body.<ref name="roy">Parama Roy, ''Indian Traffic: Identities in Question in Colonial and Post-Colonial India'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998</ref> Years later, as he contemplated an image of the [[Madonna and Child|Madonna and Christ child]] at a devotee's house, he began a phase of [[Christian]] spiritual practice. This phase culminated in a vision of the merging of Ramakrishna's body with that of Christ.<ref name="roy">Parama Roy, ''Indian Traffic: Identities in Question in Colonial and Post-Colonial India'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998</ref> === Later life === By the 1870s, Ramakrishna had established a reputation as a mystic and had attracted a large number of male devotees from the emerging urban Bengali [[bourgeoisie]] class, most of whom including [[Narendranath Dutta]], had been educated at English schools. He came to be known among his devotees as Sri Ramakrishna [[paramahamsa|Paramahansa]]. The name Ramakrishna is said to have been given him by Mathur Babu, the son-in-law of [[Rani Rasmani]].<ref>Life of Sri Ramakrishna, Advaita Ashrama, Ninth Impression, December 1971, p. 44</ref> Many prominent people of Calcutta like [[Pratap Chandra Mazumdar]], [[Shivanath Shastri]] and [[Trailokyanath Sanyal]] began visiting him during this time (1871-1885). He also met [[Swami Dayananda]]. Through his meetings with [[Keshab Chandra Sen]] of the [[Brahmo Samaj]], he had become known to the general populace of Calcutta. After fifteen years of teaching, in April 1885 the first symptoms of [[throat cancer]] appeared and in the beginning of September 1885 he was moved to [[Shyampukur]]. But the illness showed signs of aggravation and he was moved to a large garden house at [[Cossipore]] on December 11, 1885 on the advice of Dr. Sarkar, who was treating him. On August 15, 1886 his health deteriorated, and at 01:02 [[a.m.]] on the 16th he attained [[mahasamadhi]]. At noon, Dr. Sarkar pronounced that life had departed not more than half an hour before.<ref>[http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/gospel/introduction/introduction_frame.htm Last days]</ref> He left behind a devoted band of 16 young disciples headed by [[Swami Vivekananda]]. == Teachings == ===God-realisation=== [[Image:Ramakrishna at studio.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Ramakrishna (1881, Calcutta)]] The key concepts in Ramakrishna’s teachings were the [[oneness]] of [[existence]]; the [[divinity]] of all living beings; and the unity of God and the harmony of religions. Ramakrishna emphasised that God-realisation is the supreme goal of all living beings.<ref>''Kathamrita'', 1/10/6</ref> Religion, for him, was merely a means for the achievement of this goal. Ramakrishna’s mystical realisation, classified by Hindu tradition as ''[[nirvikalpa]] [[samadhi]]'' (literally, "involuntary meditation", thought to be absorption in the all-encompassing [[higher consciousness|Consciousness]]), led him to know that the various religions are different ways to reach [[Absolute (philosophy)|The Absolute]], and that the Ultimate [[Reality]] could never be expressed in human terms. ===''Kamini-kanchan''=== Ramakrishna taught that that the primal bondage in human life is to ''kaminikanchan'', or "women and gold". Devotees insist that this phrase warns against lust and greed, but religion scholars and historians have tended to take it more literally. He seems to have overcome sexual desires by "becoming female": :A man can change his nature by imitating another's character. By transposing onto yourself the attributes of a woman, you gradually destroy lust and the other sensual drives. You begin to behave like a women. I have noticed that men who play female parts in the theater speak like women or brush their teeth like women while bathing.<ref name="roy">Parama Roy, ''Indian Traffic: Identities in Question in Colonial and Post-Colonial India'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998</ref> Various scholars have come to opposing conclusions about Ramakrishna's attitude toward women. Some say that he was simply an ascetic and avoided lust in order to retain mystical clarity.{{Fact|date=April 2008}} Others say that he feared women deeply or pathologically, especially women as sexual beings.{{Fact|date=April 2008}} [[Narasingha Sil]] links this to traditional rural Bengali [[misogyny]].<ref name=dowager52>Sil, ''Divine Dowager'', p. 52</ref> Sil also says that Ramakrishna made his wife into a deity in order to avoid thinking of her as sexual.<ref name=dowager552>Sil, ''Divine Dowager'', p. 55</ref> ===''Avidyamaya'' and ''vidyamaya''=== {{seealso|Avidyamaya and vidyamaya|mayatita}} Devotees believe that Ramakrishna’s realisation of ''nirvikalpa samadhi'' also led him to an understanding of the two sides of ''[[Maya (illusion)|maya]]'', or illusion, to which he referred as ''[[Avidyamaya and vidyamaya]]''. He explained that ''avidyamaya'' represents dark forces (e.g. sensual desire, evil passions, [[greed]], [[lust]] and [[cruelty]]), which keep the world-system on lower planes of consciousness. These forces are responsible for human entrapment in [[karma|the cycle of birth and death]], and they must be fought and vanquished. ''Vidyamaya'', on the other hand, represents higher forces (e.g. spiritual virtues, enlightening qualities, [[kindness]], [[purity]], [[love]], and [[devotion]]), which elevate human beings to the higher planes of consciousness. With the help of ''vidyamaya'', he said that devotees could rid themselves of ''avidyamaya'' and achieve the ultimate goal of becoming ''[[mayatita]]'' - that is, free from ''maya''. ===Harmony of religions=== Ramakrishna recognised differences among religions but realised that in spite of these differences, all religions lead to the same ultimate goal, and hence they are all valid and true. Regarding this, the distinguished [[United Kingdom|British]] [[historian]] [[Arnold J. Toynbee]] has written: “… [[Mahatma Gandhi]]’s principle of non-violence and Sri Ramakrishna’s testimony to the harmony of religions: here we have the attitude and the spirit that can make it possible for the human race to grow together into a single family – and in the [[Atomic Age]], this is the only alternative to destroying ourselves.” <ref>[http://www.belurmath.org/sriramakrishna.htm#Contributions Contributions of Sri Ramakrishna to World Culture]</ref> ===Other teachings=== Ramakrishna’s proclamation of ''jatra jiv tatra Shiv'' (wherever there is a living being, there is [[Shiva]]) stemmed from his Advaitic perception of Reality. This would lead him teach his disciples, "''Jive daya noy, Shiv gyane jiv seba''" (not kindness to living beings, but serving the living being as Shiva Himself). This view differs considerably from what Ramakrishna’s followers call the "sentimental [[pantheism]]" of, for example, [[Francis of Assisi]]. Ramakrishna, though not formally trained as a [[philosopher]], had an intuitive grasp of complex philosophical concepts.<ref name="lh">Hixon, Lex, ''Great Swan: Meetings with Ramakrishna'', (New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1992, 2002), p. xvi</ref> According to him ''brahmanda'', the visible universe and many other universes, are mere bubbles emerging out of ''[[Brahman]]'', the supreme ocean of intelligence <ref> ''Gospel of Ramakrishna'', vol. 4''</ref>. Like [[Adi Sankara]] had done more than a thousand years earlier, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa revitalised Hinduism which had been fraught with excessive [[ritualism]] and [[superstition]] in the Nineteenth century and helped it become better-equipped to respond to challenges from [[Islam]], [[Christianity]] and the dawn of the modern era<ref name="br">Das, Prafulla Kumar, "Samasamayik Banglar adhymatmik jibongothone Sri Ramakrishner probhab", in ''Biswachetanay Ramakrishna'', (Kolkata: Udbodhon Karyaloy, 1987,1997- 6th rep.), pp.299-311</ref>. However, unlike [[Adi Sankara]], Ramakrishna developed ideas about the post-''samadhi'' descent of consciousness into the phenomenal world, which he went on to term "''[[vignana]]''". While he asserted the supreme validity of [[Advaita Vedanta]], he also he accepted both the ''Nitya'' (or the [[Monism|eternal substance]]) and the ''[[Lila|Leela]]'' (literally, "play", indicating the dynamic phenomenal reality) as aspects of ''[[Brahman]]''. The idea of the descent of consciousness shows the influence of the [[Bhakti movement]] and certain sub-schools of [[Shaktism]] on Ramakrishna’s thought. The idea would later influence [[Aurobindo]]'s views about the [[The Life Divine|Divine Life]] on Earth. ==Views of Ramakrishna== Since the 1976 publication of Walter Neeval's essay "The Transformation of Ramakrishna", scholars have thought of Ramakrishna's image as going through three discrete transformations. The first transformation, which occurred during Ramakrishna's life, was from a local village madman into a divine [[avatar]]. The next transformation, occurring after his death and conducted by his most famous disciple [[Swami Vivekananda]], was from a mystical [[ecstatic]] into the founder of a [[universalism|universalistic]] [[religious movement]]. The third transformation, this one also engineered by Vivekananda, was from a [[quietism|quietistic]] mystic into a [[social reformer]]. <ref>Neeval 1976; Openshaw 1995; Openshaw 1998</ref> Philosopher Arindam Chakrabarti called Ramakrishna "The practically illiterate, faith-bound, emotional, otherworldly [[esoteric]] Ramakrishna who prayed to the Goddess: "May my rationalizing [[intellect]] be struck by thunder!" And yet in his {{quotation|...views about the nature of [[ultimate reality]], the relation between the self and the body, ways of knowing truth, moral and social duties of human beings and metatheoretical explanations of why mystics disagree...Ramakrishna was no less a philosopher than [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] or [[Socrates]].}} Chakrabarti then contrasts Ramakrishna's talkativeness with Buddha's reticence, and makes seven comparisons between Ramakrishna and Socrates. He then analyzes a song that Ramakrishna was fond of ("The Dark Mother Flying Kites") and pulls out six philosophical elements: a [[nondualist]]ic [[metaphysics]], a spiritualistic ethic, the doctrine of ''[[karma]]'', a playful goddess, the possibility of ''[[moksha]]'', and the theory of [[psychological causation]]. <ref>Arindam Chakrabarti, "The Dark Mother Flying Kites: Sri Ramakrishna's Metaphysic of Morals" ''Sophia'', 33 (3), 1994</ref> == Ramakrishna’s impact == {{Hindu philosophy}}Born as he was during a social upheaval in [[Bengal]] in particular and India in general, Ramakrishna and his movement were an important part of the direction that Hinduism and Indian nationalism took in the coming years. ===On Hinduism=== His career was an important part of the [[Bengal Renaissance|renaissance]] that [[Bengal]], and later India, experienced in the 19th century. [[Hinduism]] faced a huge intellectual challenge in the 19th century, from Westerners and Indians alike. The [[Hindu]] practice of ''[[murti]]'' came under intense pressure specially in [[Bengal]], then the center of [[British India]], and was declared intellectually unsustainable by some intellectuals. Response to this was varied, ranging from the [[Young Bengal]] movement that denounced Hinduism and embraced [[Christianity]] or [[atheism]], to the [[Brahmo Samaj|Brahmo]] movement that retained primacy of Hinduism but gave up idol worship, and to the staunch Hindu nationalism of [[Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay]]. Ramakrishna’s influence was crucial in this period for a Hindu revival of a more traditional kind, and can be compared to that of [[Chaitanya]]'s contribution centuries earlier, when Hinduism in Bengal was under similar pressure from the growing power of [[Islam]].<ref name="jm">Mukherjee, Jayasree, "Sri Ramakrishna’s Impact on Contemporary Indian Society". ''[[Prabuddha Bharata]]'', May 2004 [http://www.eng.vedanta.ru/library/prabuddha_bharata/sri_ramakrishna%27s_impact_on_contemporary_indian_society_may04.php Online article]</ref> Among his contributions is a strong affirmation of the presence of the divine in an [[Murti|idol]].<ref name="lp">Swami Saradananda,''Sri Sri Ramakrishna Leelaproshongo'', (Kolkata:Udbodhon Karyaloy, 1955), Part I, pp.113-125</ref><ref name="mg">Gupta, Mahendranath, ''Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita'', (Kolkata: Kathamrita Bhavan, 1901, 1949 17th edition), Part I, pp. 20-21</ref> To the many that revered him, this reinforced centuries-old traditions that were in the spotlight at the time. Ramakrishna also advocated an inclusive version of the religion, declaring ''Joto mot toto path'' (meaning ''As many faiths, so many paths''). He was given a name that is clearly [[Vaishnavite]] ([[Rama]] and [[Krishna]] are both incarnations of [[Vishnu]]), but was a devotee of [[Kali]], the [[Durga|mother goddess]], and known to have followed various other religious paths including [[Tantrism]] and even [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]]. ===On Indian Nationalism=== Ramakrishna’s impact on the growing [[Indian nationalism]] was, if more indirect, nevertheless quite notable. A large number of intellectuals of that age had regular communication with him and respected him, though not all of them necessarily agreed with him on religious matters. Numerous members of the [[Brahmo Samaj]] respected him. Though some of them embraced his form of Hinduism, the fact that many others didn't shows that they detected in him a possibility for a strong national identity in the face of a colonial adversary that was intellectually undermining the Indian civilisation. As Amaury de Riencourt states,"The greatest leaders of the early twentieth century, whatever their walk of life -- [[Rabindranath Tagore]], the prince of poets; [[Aurobindo Ghosh]], the greatest mystic-philosopher; [[Mahatma Gandhi]], who eventually shook the [[British Raj|Anglo-Indian Empire]] to destruction -- all acknowledged their over-riding debt to both the Swan and the Eagle, to Ramakrishna who stirred the heart of India, and to [[Vivekananda]] who awakened its soul."<ref name="ar">de Riencourt, Amaury, ''The Soul of India'', (London: Jonathan Cape, 1961), p.250</ref> This is particularly evident in Ramakrishna’s development of the Mother-symbolism and its eventual role in defining the incipient Indian nationalism. <ref name="mj">Jolly, Margaret,"Motherlands? Some Notes on Women and Nationalism in India and Africa".''The Australian Journal of Anthropology'',Volume: 5. Issue: 1-2,1994</ref> ===Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission=== {{seealso|Apostles of Ramakrishna}} [[Vivekananda]], Ramakrishna’s most illustrious disciple, is considered by some to be one of his most important legacies. Vivekananda spread the message of Ramakrishna across the world. He also helped introduce Hinduism to the west. He founded two organisations based on the teachings of Ramakrishna. One was [[Ramakrishna Mission]], which is designed to spread the word of Ramakrishna. Vivekananda also designed its emblem. [[Ramakrishna Math]] was created as a monastic order based on Ramakrishna’s teachings. ===Legacy=== It could be argued that Ramakrishna’s vision of Hinduism and its popularisation in the West, by converts like [[Christopher Isherwood]] and admirers like [[Aldous Huxley]] and [[Romain Rolland]], have largely coloured Western notions of what Hinduism is. Many great thinkers of the world have acknowledged Ramakrishna's contribution to humanity. [[Max Müller]], who was inspired by Ramakrishna, said:<ref>[http://www.vedanta-newyork.org/articles/on_sri_ramakrishna.htm#muller Vedanta Society of New York]</ref> {{blockquote|Sri Ramakrishna was a living illustration of the truth that Vedanta, when properly realised, can become a practical rule of life... the Vedanta philosophy is the very marrow running through all the bones of Ramakrishna’s doctrine.}} [[Leo Tolstoy]] saw similarities between his and Ramakrishna's thoughts. He described him as a "remarkable sage".<ref>World Thinkers on Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, pp.15-16</ref> [[Romain Rolland]] considered Ramakrishna to be the "consummation of two thousand years of the spiritual life of three hundred million people." He said<ref>The Life of Ramakrishna, Advaita Ashrama</ref>: {{blockquote|Allowing for differences of country and of time, Ramakrishna is the younger brother of [[Christ]].}} [[Mohandas Gandhi]] wrote:<ref>Life of Sri Ramakrishna, Advaita Ashrama, Foreword</ref> {{blockquote|Ramakrishna's life enables us to see God face to face. He was a living embodiment of godliness.}} [[Sri Aurobindo]] considered Ramakrishna to be an incarnation, or [[avatar]], of God on par with [[Gautama Buddha]].<ref>World Thinkers on Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, p.16</ref> He wrote: {{blockquote|When scepticism had reached its height, the time had come for spirituality to assert itself and establish the reality of the world as a manifestation of the spirit, the secret of the confusion created by the senses, the magnificent possibilities of man and the ineffable beatitude of God. This is the work whose consummation Sri Ramakrishna came to begin and all the development of the previous two thousand years and more since Buddha appeared has been a preparation for the harmonisation of spiritual teaching and experience by the Avatar of Dakshineshwar.}} Christopher Isherwood also considered Ramakrishna to be an incarnation of God. <ref>Ramakrishna and His Disciples, Advaita Ashrama, p.2</ref> [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] described Ramakrishna as "one of the great ''[[rishis]]'' of India, who had come to draw our attention to the higher things of life and of the spirit."<ref>World Thinkers on Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, p.28</ref> [[Subhas Chandra Bose]] was also influenced by Ramakrishna. He said:<ref>World Thinkers on Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, p.29</ref> {{blockquote|The effectiveness of Ramakrishna's appeal lay in the fact that he had practised what he preached and that... he had reached the acme of spiritual progress.}} ===Contemporary reception=== In 1991, historian [[Narasingha Sil]] wrote ''Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. A Psychological Profile'', an account of Ramakrishna that suggests that Ramakrishna's mystical experiences were pathological and originated from alleged childhood sexual trauma.<ref name="ns">Sil, Narasingha, ''Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. A Psychological Profile'', (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1991), p.16</ref>Other scholars, most notably psychologist [[Sudhir Kakar]], judged Sil's study to be simplistic and misleading.<ref name="sk">Kakar, Sudhir, ''The Analyst and the Mystic'', (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), p.34</ref> Sil's theory has also been viewed as reductive by William B. Parsons, who has called for an increased empathetic dialogue between the classical/adaptive/transformative schools and the mystical traditions for an enhanced understanding of Ramakrishna's life and experiences.<ref name="wp">Parsons, William B., ''The Enigma of the Oceanic Feeling: Revisioning the Psychoanalytic Theory of Mysticism'', (New York, Oxford University Press, 1999), pp.125-139</ref> In 1991, Sudhir Kakar wrote "The Analyst and the Mystic." <ref>In The Indian Psyche, 125-188. 1996 New Delhi: Viking by Penguin. Reprint of 1991 book.</ref> Gerald James Larson wrote, "Indeed, Sudhir Kakar...indicates that there would be little doubt that from a [[Psychoanalysis|psychoanalytic]] point of view Ramakrishna could be diagnosed as a secondary [[transsexual]]."<ref>{{cite journal | author = Gerald James Larson | date = Autumn 1997 | title = Polymorphic Sexuality, Homoeroticism, and the Study of Religion | journal = Journal of the American Academy of Religion | volume = 65 | issue = 3 | pages = 655–665 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = London | url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-7189%28199723%2965%3A3%3C655%3APSHATS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M | month = Nov | year = 1997 }}</ref> Kakar sought a meta-psychological non-pathological explanation that connects Ramakrishna's mystical realization with creativity. Kakar also argues that culturally relative concepts of eroticism and gender have contributed to the Western difficulty in comprehending Ramakrishna.<ref name="sk">Kakar, Sudhir, ''The Analyst and the Mystic'', (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), p.34</ref>In 2003, Sudhir Kakar wrote a novel, ''Ecstasy'', in which an aspiring ''[[sadhu]]'' in 20th century India endures sexual molestation as a child, and has a feminine appearance and ambiguous sexuality. According to the author, the characters were modelled on Ramakrishna and Vivekananda.<ref>"The characters are modelled on Ramakrishna and Vivekananda." [http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/apr/19inter.htm The Rediff Interview/Psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar] Date accessed: 1 April 2008</ref> In 1995, [[postmodernist]]<ref>[http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kalischi/secret.html "Secret Talk: Sexual Identity and the Politics of Scholarship in the Study of Hindu Tantrism"] (no date): "I thus write, certainly not as a South Asian commenting on my own culture or even as an anthropologist with extensive ethnographic experience commenting on someone else’s (I claim neither theoretical voice), but as an American historian of religions trying to make sense of American religious pluralism and the profound effects it has had and continues to have on our contemporary understandings of religion, mysticism, and Western Hinduism, not to mention my own postmodern plural self."</ref> author [[Jeffrey Kripal]] wrote ''[[Kali's Child|Kali's Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna]]'', which he called a [[psychoanalytic]] study of Ramakrishna.<ref>[http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/13682.ctl Kripal, Jeffrey J.: Kali's Child<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref name="jf">Kripal, Jeffrey J., ''Kali's Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna'', (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995, 1998)</ref> William Parsons described ''Kali's Child'' as a book "which performs a classic Freudian interpretation by seeing symptoms of repressed homoeroticism in the visions and acts of Ramakrishna, but then, in exemplifying the interdisciplinary approach of this dialogue, legitimates Ramakrishna’s religious visions by situating psychoanalytic discourse in a wider Tantric worldview."<ref>WILLIAM B. PARSONS, "PSYCHOLOGY" in ''Gale's Encyclopedia of Religion'', 2005</ref> ''Kali's Child'' provoked controversy after [[Narasingha Sil]] wrote a scathing review of ''Kali's Child'' in ''[[The Statesman]]'' which produced a great deal of angry correspondence.<ref>{{cite journal | quotes = no | author = Brian A. Hatcher | date = August 1999 | title = Kali's problem child: Another look at Jeffrey Kripal's study of Ramakrishna | journal = International Journal of Hindu Studies | volume = 3 | issue = 2 | pages = 165–82 | publisher = World Heritage Press Inc | url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0279%28199707%2F09%29117%3A3%3C571%3AKCTMAE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-T | quote = Most of the people in the room were familiar with the book, since not long before there had been a scathing review of the book and a welter of angry correspondence in the pages of Calcutta's major English daily, the Statesman. Judging from those reviews, one would have thought ''Kali's child'' had to be right up there with Lady Chatterly's lover. | doi = 10.1007/s11407-999-0002-3}}</ref><ref>Sil went even further when "in one Calcutta newspaper, The Statesman, Narasingha Sil recently decried Kripal as a shoddy scholar with a perverse imagination who has thoughtlessly "ransacked" another culture and produced a work which is, in short, "plain shit" (January 31, 1997)..." {{cite journal | last = Urban | first = Hugh | title = Kālī's Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna | journal = The Journal of Religion | volume = Vol. 78, No. 2 | pages = pp. 318–320 | date = Apr., 1998 | url= http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4189%28199804%2978%3A2%3C318%3AKCTMAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G | accessdate=2008-03-18 | month = Apr | year = 1998 | issue = 2 | doi = 10.1086/490220 }}</ref> <!--However, in 1998, Sil suggested that ''Kali's Child'' was the best scholarly work on Ramakrishna.<ref>{{cite web | last =Bhattacharyya | first =Somnath | title =Kali's Child: Psychological And Hermeneutical Problems | publisher =Infinity Foundation | url =http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/s_rv/s_rv_bhatt_kali_frameset.htm | accessdate =2008-03-15}}</ref>-->In subsequent articles, Kripal's translations, his conclusions, and his authority to apply psychoanalysis to Ramakrishna were questioned by several scholars, including Alan Roland, [[Huston Smith]], and Somnath Bhattacharya.<ref> Smith derided Kripal's work as "colonialism updated".{{cite journal | last = Smith | first =Huston | title = Letters to the Editor | journal = Harvard Divinity Bulletin | volume = 30/1 | pages = Letters | date = Spring 2001}}</ref><ref>"Freud never had access to non-Western patients, so he never established the validity of his theories in other cultures. This is a point emphasized by Alan Roland, who has researched and published extensively to show that Freudian approaches are not applicable to study Asian cultures." Ramaswamy and De Nicholas, p. 39.</ref><ref>Somnath Bhattacharyya is emeritus professor and former head of the Psychology Department at Calcutta University(Ramaswamy and DeNicholas, p. 152), and a practicing psychotherapist(Ramaswamy and DeNicholas, p. 152) who is fluent in Bengali(Ramaswamy and DeNicholas, p. 152) and familiar with the primary source material used by Kripal(Ramaswamy and DeNicholas, p. 152). In addition to pointing out that Kripal is not qualified in psychoanalysis, he says the textual errors in Kali’s Child are “particularly grave”, and “large scale distortions of source material in an ill attempted effort at establishing a thesis, is certainly not academically acceptable.” Ramaswamy and DeNicholas, p. 162.</ref> According to Brian Hatcher, although some had their misgivings, the overall verdict of religion scholars and of experts on South Asian culture regarding ''Kali's Child'' has been approving, and at times highly laudatory.<ref>{{cite journal | quotes = no | author = Brian A. Hatcher | date = August 1999 | title = Kali's problem child: Another look at Jeffrey Kripal's study of Ramakrishna | journal = International Journal of Hindu Studies | volume = 3 | issue = 2 | pages = 165–82 | publisher = World Heritage Press Inc | url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0279%28199707%2F09%29117%3A3%3C571%3AKCTMAE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-T | quote = As a glance at the reviews will show, ''Kali's child'' has been praised by scholars of religion (see Haberman 1997; Parsons 1997) and by experts on South Asian culture more generally (see Radice 1998; Vaidyanathan 1997). Granted, some of these reviewers have their misgivings--and later in this essay I will raise one of my own---but their overall verdict has been an approving, and at times highly laudatory, one. | doi = 10.1007/s11407-999-0002-3}}</ref> Kripal responded to the criticisms in journal articles and postings on his website, but stopped participating in the discussion in late 2002.<ref>[http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kalischi/textuality.html Kali's Child]</ref> Attempts by modern authors to psychoanalyze Ramakrishna are questioned by practicing psychoanalyst Alan Roland, who has written extensively about applying Western psychoanalysis to Eastern cultures,<ref>Roland, Alan. (1996) ''Cultural Pluralism and Psychoanalysis: The Asian and North American Experience''. Routledge. ISBN 0415914787.</ref><ref>Roland, Alan (1998) ''In Search of Self in India and Japan: Toward a Cross-cultural Psychology''. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691024588.</ref><ref>Roland, A. (1991). ''Sexuality, the Indian Extended Family, and Hindu Culture''. J. Amer. Acad. Psychoanal., 19:595-605.</ref><ref>Roland, A. (1980). ''Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Personality Development in India. Int. R. Psycho-Anal.'', 7:73-87.</ref> and charges that psychoanalysis has been misapplied to Ramakrishna.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Roland | first = Alan | title = Ramakrishna: Mystical, Erotic, or Both? | journal = Journal of Religion and Health | volume = 37 | pages = 31–36 |date=October 2004 | doi = 10.1023/A:1022956932676}}</ref><ref>Roland, Alan. (2007) ''The Uses (and Misuses) Of Psychoanalysis in South Asian Studies: Mysticism and Child Development''. Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America. Delhi, India: Rupa & Co. ISBN 978-8129111821</ref> Roland decries the facile decoding of Hindu symbols, such as Kali’s sword and Krishna’s flute, into Western sexual metaphors&mdash;thereby reducing Ramakrishna’s spiritual aspiration to the basest psychopathology.<ref>Roland, ''Ramakrishna: Mystical, Erotic, or Both?'', p. 33.</ref> The conflation of Ramakrishna’s spiritual ecstasy, or [[samadhi]], with unconscious dissociated states due to repressed homoerotic feelings is not based on common psychoanalytic definitions of these two different motivations, according to Roland.<ref>Roland, ''Ramakrishna: Mystical, Erotic, or Both?'', p. 33.</ref> He also writes that it is highly questionable whether Ramakrishna’s spiritual aspirations and experiences involve regression&mdash;responding to modern attempts to reduce Ramakrishna’s spiritual states to a subconscious response to an imagined childhood trauma.<ref>Roland, ''The Uses (and Misuses) Of Psychoanalysis in South Asian Studies: Mysticism and Child Development'', published in ''Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America''. Delhi, India: Rupa & Co. ISBN 978-8129111821, p. 414.</ref> In 2006, composer [[Philip Glass]] wrote ''The Passion of Ramakrishna'', a choral work. It premiered on September 16, 2006 at the [[Orange County Performing Arts Center]] in [[Costa Mesa, California]], performed by [[Orange County, California|Orange County]]’s Pacific Symphony Orchestra conducted by Carl St. Clair with the Pacific Chorale directed by John Alexander.<ref>[http://www.philipglass.com/html/compositions/passion-of-ramakrishna.html Philipglass.com]</ref> ==References== {{reflist|2}} ==Further reading== * {{cite web | last =Bhattacharyya | first =Somnath | title =Kali's Child: Psychological And Hermeneutical Problems | publisher =Infinity Foundation | url =http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/s_rv/s_rv_bhatt_kali_frameset.htm | accessdate =2008-03-15 }} *{{cite book | last =Chetanananda | first =Swami | title =Ramakrishna As We Saw Him | publisher =Vedanta Society of St Louis | date =1990 | location =St. Louis | isbn =978-0916356644 }} *{{cite book | last =Gupta | first =Mahendranath | authorlink =Mahendranath Gupta | coauthors =[[Swami Nikhilananda]] | title =The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna | publisher =Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center | date =1985 | isbn =978-0911206012 }} * {{cite book |author=[[Lex Hixon|Hixon, Lex]] |title=Great Swan: Meetings With Ramakrishna |publisher=Larson Publications |location=Burdett, N.Y |year= |pages= |isbn=0-943914-80-9 |oclc= |doi=}} * {{cite book |author=Paul Hourihan |title=Ramakrishna & Christ, the Supermystics: New Interpretations |publisher=Vedantic Shores Press |location= |year= |pages= |isbn=1-931816-00-X |oclc= |doi=}} * {{cite book |author=[[Christopher Isherwood|Isherwood, Christopher]] |title=Ramakrishna and His Disciples |publisher=Vedanta Press |location=Hollywood, Calif |date=1980 |pages= |isbn=0-87481-037-X |oclc= |doi=}} (reprint, orig. 1965) * {{cite book |author=[[Jeffrey J. Kripal]] |title=[[Kali's Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna]]|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location= |year=1995 |pages= |isbn= |oclc= |doi=}} *{{cite web | last =Kripal | first =Jeffrey J. | title =Kālī's Tongue and Ramakrishna: 'Biting the Tongue' of the Tantric Tradition | publisher =University of Chicago Press | date =1994 | url =http://www.jstor.org/view/00182710/ap030121/03a00030/0?frame=frame&userID=cb11d762@slv.vic.gov.au/01cce4405a00501c30ea5&dpi=3&config=jstor | accessdate =2007-07-10 }} * {{cite book |author=[[Max Muller]] |title=Ramakrishna: His Life and Sayings |publisher=Advaita Ashrama |location= |year= |pages= |isbn=81-7505-060-8 |oclc= |doi=}} * {{cite book | last=Olson | first=Carl | title=The Mysterious Play of Kālī: An Interpretive Study of Rāmakrishna | publisher=American Academy of Religion (Scholars Press) | date=1990 | isbn=1-55540-339-5 }} *{{cite book | last =Rajagopalachari | first =Chakravarti | authorlink =C. Rajagopalachari | title =Sri Ramakrishna Upanishad | publisher =Vedanta Press | date =1973 | asin =B0007J1DQ4 }} * {{cite book | last =Ramaswamy | first =Krishnan | coauthors =Antonio de Nicolas | title =Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America | publisher =Rupa & Co | date =2007 | location =Delhi, India | isbn =978-8129111821 }} *{{cite book | last =Rolland | first =Romain | authorlink =Romain Rolland | title =Life of Ramakrishna | publisher =Vedanta Press | date =1929 | isbn =978-8185301440 }} *{{cite book | last =Saradananda | first =Swami | authorlink = | coauthors =Swami Chetanananda | title =Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play | publisher =Vedanta Society | date =2003 | location =St. Louis | isbn =978-0916356811 }} *{{cite book | last =Saradananda | first =Swami | authorlink = | coauthors =Swami Jagadananda | title =Sri Ramakrishna The Great Master | publisher =Sri Ramakrishna Math | date =1952 | asin =B000LPWMJQ }} * {{cite book |author=Satyananda Saraswati |title=Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss |publisher=Devi Mandir Publications |location= |year= |pages= |isbn=1-877795-66-6 |oclc= |doi=}} *{{cite book | last =Torwesten | first =Hans | title =Ramakrishna and Christ, or, The paradox of the incarnation | publisher =The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture | date =1999 | isbn =978-8185843971 }} *{{cite book | last =Ananyananda | first =Swami | title =Ramakrishna: a biography in pictures | publisher =Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta | date =1981 | isbn =978-8185843971 }} * {{cite web | last =Tyagananda | first =Swami | title =Kali's Child Revisited or Didn't Anyone Check the Documentation? | work = | publisher =Infinity Foundation | url =http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/s_rv/s_rv_tyaga_kali1_frameset.htm | accessdate =2008-03-15 }} ==External links== <!--===========================({{NoMoreLinks}})=============================== | DO NOT ADD MORE LINKS TO THIS ARTICLE. WIKIPEDIA IS NOT A COLLECTION OF | | LINKS. If you think that your link might be useful, do not add it here, | | but put it on this article's discussion page first or submit your link | | to the appropriate category at the Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.org)| | and link back to that category using the {{dmoz}} template. | | | | Links that have not been verified WILL BE DELETED. | | See [[Wikipedia:External links]] and [[Wikipedia:Spam]] for details | ===========================({{NoMoreLinks}})===============================--> {{wikiquote}}{{wikisource}} *[http://www.belurmath.org/gospel/index.htm The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna] *''[http://www.kathamrita.org/ Ramakrishna Kathamrita]'' literally, ''The Nectar of Ramakrishna’s Words'' *[http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rls/index.htm Ramakrishna, His Life and Sayings] by [[Max Müller]] *[http://www.hinduism.fsnet.co.uk/namoma/life_thakur/life_thakur_my_master.htm My Master]- from [[Vivekananda]]'s 1896 Lectures on Ramakrishna *[http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info Works of Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda] *[http://www.rkmhq.org/ Official website of the Headquarters of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission] *[http://www.sriramakrishna.org/apostles.htm Direct Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna] {{Bengal Renaissance}} {{Hindu reform movements}} [[Category:Hindu gurus]] [[Category:Indian religious leaders]] [[Category:Hindu revivalists]] [[Category:Bengali renaissance]] [[Category:1836 births]] [[Category:1886 deaths]] [[Category:Ramakrishna Mission]] [[Category:Ramakrishna]] [[Category:Advaitin philosophers]] [[bn:রামকৃষ্ণ পরমহংস]] [[de:Ramakrishna]] [[es:Ramakrishna]] [[eo:Ramakriŝna]] [[fr:Râmakrishna]] [[hi:रामकृष्ण परमहंस]] [[ia:Ramakrishna]] [[it:Ramakrishna]] [[kn:ರಾಮಕೃಷ್ಣ ಪರಮಹಂಸ]] [[ml:ശ്രീരാമകൃഷ്ണ പരമഹംസന്‍]] [[nl:Ramakrishna]] [[ja:ラーマクリシュナ]] [[no:Ramakrishna]] [[pl:Ramakryszna]] [[pt:Ramakrishna]] [[ru:Рамакришна]] [[sa:रामकृष्‍ण परमहंस]] [[sk:Rámakrišna]] [[fi:Ramakrishna]] [[sv:Ramakrishna]] [[ta:ஸ்ரீ ராமகிருஷ்ணர்]] [[te:రామకృష్ణ పరమహంస]] [[vi:Ramakrishna]] [[tr:Sri Ramakrishna]]