Having plunged the depths of spiritual realisation, Sri Ramakrishna had a first-hand account of the way to reach that state. He, therefore, discouraged any tendency to consider scriptural study a necessary step to the realization of God.
The reasons for this attitude of Sri Ramakrishna are many. Continual intellectual study resulted in vanity, false satisfaction and undigested knowledge, he said. Sacred books were beneficial if they helped in cultivating devotion to God and stimulated the desire for inner realization. A mere scholar has an exaggerated notion of his own spiritual progress. If one busied oneself with an outer display of scriptural knowledge, what time would be left for silent inward diving into the Ocean of God’s Beauty and gather the precious gems of spirituality—devotion, knowledge, discrimination and dispassion? After reading a few books man becomes conceited. Such egotism is begotten by ignorance, said Sri Ramakrishna. Through ignorance man forgets God and speaks always of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. On account of the barrier of ego one does not see God. Only the humble man, who surrendered himself to God, could attain knowledge
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
How Bhagavad Gita Helps To Get Freedom !
The Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue between Sri Krishna, the Divinity Incarnate, and Arjuna, the representative of mankind. Though Arjuna was eager to fight in the battle, when he saw that he had to fight with his dear ones, he became nervous and began arguing against war. Finally Arjuna confessed to Sri Krishna his weakness and lack of mental preparedness. Thus begins the dialogue and the Gita is the result. Not only does Sri Krishna counsel and encourage Arjuna to fight the righteous war, he also outlines, through his Gita-discourse, a whole philosophy of life—dealing with work ethics, education, service, stress, charity and so on, and how to reach ultimate freedom.