Sri Ramakrishna: A Tribute.

Friends, today it's the holy Janam-tithi (the moment of Birth according to Hindu astronomical chart) of Sri Ramakrishna Dev, one of the greatest saints the world has ever seen. This article is just an attempt to pay a small tribute to this unfathomable personality.

Sri Ramakrishna Dev was born in the year of 1836, in India, when our country was being ruled by British emperor. Apparently, He was a priest in a Kali Temple in a place called Dakshineshwar in West Bengal, a state of India. He did not take part in Indian freedom struggle actively or indirectly, neither He had the proper education of even a school, nor was He had an impressive personality. Seemingly, He was an illiterate person with least social courtesy. So we wonder, what is there in This Man that today millions bow down to His photograph, what is there in Him that makes many of us use a capital letter in every pronoun we use for Him.

To answer this question in this article or even in a 1000 paged book is impossible, believe me. But if we try to analyze the reason, we shall find some wonderful facts. Usually, we identify a person's greatness by the uniqueness he has. In this scenario, too, we shall see that first.The most striking difference that Sri Ramakrishna had from others is that He craved for God as we crave for our earthly pleasure. To some of us, God is but an image; to some, God is just an abstract idea; to some, God is a supernatural force and to some God is a faith on an non-existent object! For Sri Ramakrishna, God was the person next to Him, God was His best Friend! For Him, God was no idea or belief, it is an Universal Truth that existed and stayed with Him day and night. People say He attained God, but I say- He became one with God, just as a fish becomes a fossil after a long stay with a stone.

Sri Ramakrishna Dev, being an Indian citizen never took part in Indian freedom struggle or any social reformation. But it won't be wrong if we say that it was for Him that India got Her freedom in 1947, otherwise it might have been even later. It is also true that if someone has plausibly the greatest contribution in the social reformation of India, it is Sri Ramakrishna. You may wonder how is that possible. True, He never fought for Indian freedom struggle, but He gifted India Her greatest son: Swami Vivekananda. But for Him, Narendranath Dutta could not become Swami Vivekananda, who would later prove to be the greatest social reformer of India and maker of fiercest martyrs of Indian freedom struggle.

Sri Ramakrishna's attitude towards women has been historic and most extraordinary. While common people have feeling of lust and desire on women, He was absolutely unique. To Him, women represented the Universal Mother. So deep-rooted and genuine was this attitude and feeling that He even saw Mother in His wife, Sri Sarada Devi, another giant of spiritual world, and He literally worshiped Her. He never had a physical relationship with His wife, all He had for Her was tremendous respect and unconditional, divine love, a love that cannot be fathomed by material brain. Today's shallow-minded folks may not be able to gauge this relationship and may point out to some weird concept from biology and human psychology, but if they realize in depth, they will realize that it was absolutely natural and genuine.

Do we see a man calculating all different methods of a mathematical problem to find out the answer? Generally, people follow one or two methods. Sri Ramakrishna Dev practiced almost all the major religious ways and their rituals to attain God. Being a Hindu Brahmin priest, He practiced all the sections of Hindu religion, He succeeded. He even practiced Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and proved that God can be attained by all these ways and this God is equal in all religions.

There are many more religious teachers in this world, but the uniqueness of Sri Ramakrishna was that He has made religion your piece of cake! He has described the most difficult subject in the easiest language. Have we ever seen anyone describing the oneness of God in easier example than that He did:"Water is called in different names in every country, but does the subject change? No! The subject remains the same- it's water everywhere. Similarly, people call God in different names, but those name do not alter the form of God. God is one and the same for all religions."

We have already mentioned that to fathom this ultra-divine personality is impossible for words. We just touched the very basics of His Life as a tribute to His janma-tithi. Critics say that to understand Sri Ramakrishna Dev completely is impossible for an ordinary human. It is said that only Swami Vivekananda, who was the greatest gift of Ramakirhna to our world, realized the excellence of Sri Ramakrishna properly. But even Swami Vivekananda said that He cannot gauge the divinity of Sri Ramakrishna in words, as no words are able to express His purity, divinity and personality.
We shall finish this article with a small account of Swami Vivekananda that He made about His dearest Guru in His Calcutta lecture. His analysis may help us getting a glimpse on Sri Ramakrishna's true being. Listen what this epoch making spiritual giant of all times says about His 'illiterate' Guru:

"Brothers, you have touched another chord in my heart, the deepest of all, and that is the mention of my teacher, my master, my hero, my ideal, my God in life - Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. If there has been anything achieved by me, by thoughts, or words, or deeds, if from my lips has ever fallen one word that has helped any one in the world, I lay no claim to it, it was his. But if there have been curses falling from my lips, if there has been hatred coming out of me, it is all mine and not his. All that has been weak has been mine, and all that has been life-giving, strengthening, pure, and holy, has been his inspiration, his words, and he himself. Yes, my friends, the world has yet to know that man. We read in the history of the world about prophets and their lives, and these come down to us through centuries of writings and workings by their disciples. Through thousands of years of chiselling and modelling, the lives of the great prophets of yore come down to us; and yet, in my opinion, not one stands so high in brilliance as that life which I saw with my own eyes, under whose shadow I have lived, at whose feet I have learnt everything —the life of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa."