THIS IS THE STORY OF A PHENOMENON

Was concerned for having missed to pass on information about Sri Ramakrishna on 23rd,, as it was our Sri Ramakrishna’s Jayanthi!. But later realized the fact, that it is not enough nor is it sufficient for us to only think about Sri Ramakrishna on one particular day of the year. Instead, this activity of sharing information needs to be done around the year [24 / 7 activity] for whole humanity to unhinge themselves from untruth.

Before I can share the below introductory transcript [THIS IS THE STORY OF A PHENOMENON] from the book“ Ramakrishna and His Disciples” by Christopher Isherwood. It is of much relevance for each of us to read the below conversation between Max Millur and Swami Vivekananda, as it indicates the proof of the world’s view about India and Sri Ramakrishna.

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Rajhashekher BC
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2012
Facebook : - Swami Vivekananda Myindiaeternal

Conversations between Professor Max Müller and Swami Vivekananda on Sri Ramakrishna and India:

Ramakrishna is worshipped by thousands today, Professor [Max Muller ] ", I [ Swami Vivekananda ] said. " To whom else shall worship be accorded, if not to such", was the answer. The Professor was kindness itself, and asked Mr. Sturdy and myself to lunch with him. He showed us several colleges in Oxford and the Bodleian library. He also accompanied us to the railway station; and all this he did because, as he said, "It is not every day one meets a disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa"

"When are you [Max Muller] coming to India? Every heart there would welcome one who has done so much to place the thoughts of their ancestors in the true light", I [Swami Vivekananda] said. The face of the aged sage brightened up — there was almost a tear in his eyes, a gentle nodding of the head, and slowly the words came out: "I would not return then; you would have to cremate me there." Further questions seemed an unwarrantable intrusion into realms wherein are stored the holy secrets of man's heart.

Who knows but that it was what the poet has said—

तच्चेतसा स्मरति नूनमबोधपूर्वं ।
भावस्थिराणि जननान्तरसौहृदानि ॥

—"He remembers with his mind the friendships of former births, firmly rooted in his heart."


THIS IS THE STORY OF A PHENOMENON

I will begin by calling him simply that, rather then "holy man", "mystic”,” saint", or "avatar"; all emotive words with mixed associations which may attract some readers, repel others.

A phenomenon is often something extraordinary and mysterious. Ramakrishna was extraordinary and mysterious; most of all to those who were best fitted to understand him. A phenomenon is always a fact, an object of experience. That is how I shall try to approach Ramakrishna.

Modern advertising has inflated our value-judgments until they are nearly worthless. Every product and person is said by its publicist to be the best; I want to avoid the competitive note here so I will say only this: Ramakrishna's life, being comparatively recent history, is well documented. In this respect, it has the advantage over the lives of other, earlier phenomena of a like nature. We do not have to rely, here, on fragmentary or glossed manuscripts, dubious witnesses, pious legends. What Ramakrishna was or was not the reader must decide for HIMSELF: but at least his decision can be based on words and deeds Ramakrishna indubitably spoke and did.

You will find a full bibliography at the end of the book. But I must also mention here the two great works which provide almost all of my source material. This book is really no more than an introduction to them, and I shall quote from them and paraphrase them throughout it. One is THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA by M.; the other is SRI RAMAKRISHNA THE GREAT MASTER by Swami Saradananda. M, is the pseudonym of Mahendra Nath Gupta, the headmaster of a Calcutta high school, who first met Ramakrishna in 1882 and thereafter visited him regularly during the remaining four years of Ramakrishna's life. After each visit, M. noted down everything which had been said and done in his presence by Ramakrishna and those who were with him. The result is a very big book, which is probably close to totally accurate reporting. Saradananda was still in his teens when he met Ramakrishna and become his disciple. It was not until many years later that he began to write the articles which accumulated to form SRI RAMAKRISHNA THE GREAT MASTER, a biography which covers all of Ramakrishna’s life except its last few months. Although Saradananda did not begin his work until more than twenty years after Ramakrishna's death, there is no doubt of it's authenticity.
Many of those who had known Ramakrishna were then still alive, and Saradananada carefully compared his memories with theirs.

THE GREAT MASTER has also the value of having been written by a monastic disciple, who has actually shared the extraordinary experiences he describes. “Nothing beyond my spiritual experience has been recorded in the book," Saradananda once told a questioner. This seemingly cautious answer is in fact a claim so tremendous that it silences all suspicion of boastfulness; a man like Saradananda could not have made it unless it was literally true.

As for myself, it would be dishonest to pretend I am addressing you as an impartial biographer. I myself am a devotee of Ramakrishna; I believe, or am at least strongly inclined to believe, that he was what his disciples declared that he was: an incarnation of God upon earth. Nevertheless, I am not writing this book primarily for confirmed believers or unbelievers. The sort of reader I am writing for is the one who is not afraid to recognize the marvelous, no matter where he finds it; the sort of reader who is always on the lookout for a phenomenon.

I only ask you approach Ramakrishna with the same open - minded curiosity you might feel about any highly unusual human being; a Julius Caesar, a Catherine of Siena, A Leonardo da Vinci, an Arthur Rimbaud. Dismiss from your mind, as far as you are able, such categories as holy - unholy, sane - insane, wise - foolish, pure - impure, positive - negative, useful - useless. Just say to yourself as you read: this, too, is humanly possible. Then later, if you like, consider the implications of that possibility for the rest of the human species.