Understanding Sri Ramakrishna — Swami Bhaskarananda

Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on March 13, 2011. In this talk, Swami Bhaskarananda explores why it can be difficult to understand Sri Ramakrishna as a divine incarnation. He explains the Vedantic view that the same formless divinity appears as different incarnations such as Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and Sri Ramakrishna, and that this divinity is also present—though usually dormant—in every human being as spiritual power. Drawing on yoga psychology, he briefly describes the awakening of this power and the states of samadhi, using Sri Ramakrishna’s own deep absorption as an example of a mind completely merged in divine consciousness. Because most photographs show Sri Ramakrishna in samadhi, and because of accounts that he avoided physical contact with those he called “impure,” some devotees feel he is distant or unapproachable, especially when compared with the more outwardly affectionate Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi. The Swami then shows how Sri Ramakrishna deliberately concealed his divinity behind “disguises”: an ordinary human body, childlike simplicity, and lack of formal education. These veils allowed people to feel close to him, even to the point of advising or correcting him. At rare moments, however, Sri Ramakrishna revealed his true nature through visions experienced by devotees at a distance, or through his own words. Swami Bhaskarananda concludes with Sri Ramakrishna’s own image of a king travelling incognito among his subjects, suggesting that once too many people recognized him as an incarnation, his earthly play naturally came to an end.