Hello and welcome to episode 100 of The Ask Sri Vishwanath Show. I’m so delighted that we have finally reached this milestone. I have had such a wonderful response to these episodes and I feel like I have grown along with the people watching and reading. I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for helping me and encouraging me to reach this milestone.
Today I want to talk about God in disguise. What happens when God comes in disguise? This is exactly what happened when Ramakrishna Paramhansa was born and today’s episode is dedicated to him.
I want to make two statements. You will repel the first because most people will not like. You’ll probably love the second statement.
Sri Ramakrishna
I want to introduce you to a man called Sri Ramakrishna. Vivekananda said he was greater than Krishna, Ram, Jesus and Buddha. He was greater than all of them. Why? Because when you read him your love for Jesus, Buddha and Krishna will multiply by millions. You cannot know these great men through just their teachings. You must read Ramakrishna Paramhansa for your love to really grow and this is why he is so important.
So why is he so great? He is so great because nowhere in the history of the world has the day to day teachings of a man of god been recorded. Christ’s day to day teachings were never recorded. The New Testament was written thousands of years after his death. Buddha’s daily teachings were never recorded either. The same goes for Krishna and Ram. All of Ramakrishna’s teachings were recorded in his bible The Gospel of Ramakrishna written by Mahendranath with a foreword by Audous Huxley
Audous Huxley says that never have the small events of a contemplative’s daily life been described with such a wealth of intimate detail. Never has the casual and steady utterances of a great religious teacher been set down with such a minute fidelity. To read through these conversations in which mystical doctrine alternates with an unfamiliar kind of humour and where discussions of the orders and aspects of Hindu mythology give place to the most profound and subtle utterances about the nature of ultimate reality is in itself a liberal education in humility, tolerance and suspense of judgement.
The second book is called Sri Ramakrishna the Great master. They are the greatest and most important books that exist on the subject of spirituality. To truly understand whatever religion it is you follow you must first read these books. Do this and your devotion will expand by the thousands.
Every religion
There are four reasons why Ramakrishna was the greatest man on earth. The first is because he was the only person on earth to understand and practice every religion. Hinduism has many streams and to master one would take a lifetime but he mastered Vedanta which is God without form. This allowed him to also see God with form. He was the one who convinced people that you can see, hear and speak to god. He practiced tantra which has 64 different parts. It’s very complex but it involves seeing every woman as a manifestation of the divine spirit.
After perfecting Hinduism he decided that he wanted to know other religions. So he practiced Christianity and mastered it in 3 days and saw Christ. He then studied Islam under an Islamic teacher and was able to see Mohammed. No other man in history has been able to do this because he was God in disguise.
Infact he asked the goddess Kali to shut out his divine light so that people would not flock to him because he wanted to remain in disguise.
Redefined love
The second reason is that he redefined love. All of the other great men and sages were either always single or left their partner. Ramakrishna was married to Sharda Devi. He was proof that married people can also see God. He showed that you don’t have to be single or you don’t have to leave your wife to see God. He proved that love is not an obstacle to seeing God. They did not have a physical relationship because they wanted to live through the consciousness and not the body. He said that when there is no lust, there is love. The love we usually speak about is selfish and influenced. This love that he speaks about is pure. He really redefined true love. It’s spirit to spirit not body to body.
He regarded the breast of every woman as if it was his mothers. Not just his own mother but also the divine mother Kali. He described men who lust as vultures. They fly high but their gaze is always down below on the charnel pits They are always seeking for women and money. We must have the eyes of God.
He uses another example of the frog. The frog fears the snake so much the snakes image is almost tattooed on its eyes. So much so that if you were to burn that frog and rub the ashes into your eyes, all you would see is that snake. Such is the power of what we see. Men have beautiful eyes but they limit their site to women, money and power. By being married he proved that you can be in the midst of worldliness and still see God.
Super consciousness
The third reason is because he redefined the word super consciousness. There is consciousness, sub- consciousness and super consciousness called Samadhi. We have talked about this in a previous episode. Ramakrishna spent 19 out of the 24 hours in a day in Samadhi. No other person in history has done this. People had to try and bring him down from that super conscious state by giving him chocolate! People spend their whole lives trying to get to this stage of Samadhi and most will never get there even once. He was always there and had to be brought down! If you want to know more about super consciousness then read these two books. They will really inspire you. If you don’t read these books you will really be missing out.
Vivekananda
The fourth was that he gave the world the wisdom of Vivekananda. In all of history he was the once who expressed God in the most beautiful and understanding way. He studied all religions and spoke about every deity. You can read more about him in the book called the complete works of Swami Vivekananda. His wisdom was a blessing and a gift from Ramakrishna. You will not see God expressed in a better way anywhere else in history or the present. No one can come close to his knowledge because he had the blessings of Ramakrishna.
So please read about these amazing men and women of God and let them into your life. Let your love for your God grow to heights you never thought possible.
