05-12-2005, 04:54 AM
Bharatvarhsa,
The RKM claim that it is not a Hindu organization is of course bogus. They were forced to take that course because the Communist Govt in West Bengal was threatening to take over their schools, colleges, orphanges. They were advised by their lawyers that the only way to save their property was to declare themselves as minority since Indian constitution gives special rights to minorities. They managed to save their institutions for 20 years by using that legal maneouvre. No one in the RKM believes their "legal position" that they are not Hindus.
What is Ramakrishna and Vivekananda's position about other religions. I give below direct quotes:
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"God can be realized through all paths. All religions are true. The important
thing is to reach the roof. You can reach it by stone stairs or by wooden
stairs or by bamboo steps or by a rope. You can also climb up by a bamboo
pole.
You may say that there are many errors and superstitions in another religion.
I should reply: Suppose there are. Every religion has errors. Every one thinks
that his watch alone gives the correct time. It is enough to have yearning for
God. It is enough to love Him and feel attracted to Him. Don't you know that
God is the Inner Guide? He sees the longing of our heart and the yearning of
our soul. Suppose a man has several sons. The older boys address him
distinctly as 'Baba' or 'Papa', but the babies can at best call him 'Ba' or
'Pa'. Now will the father be angry with those who address him in this
indistinct way? The father knows that they too are calling him, only they
cannot pronounce his name well. All children are same to the father.
Likewise, the devotees call on God alone, though by different names. They call
on One Person only. God is one, but His names are many."
"It is not good to feel that one's own religion alone is true and all others
are false. God is one only and not two. Diferent people call on Him by
different names, some as Allah, some as God, and others as Krishna, Siva,
and Brahman. It is like water in a lake. Some drink it at one place and call
it 'jal', others at another place and call it 'pani', and still others at a
third place and call it 'water'. The Hindus call it 'jal', the Christians
call it 'water', and the Mussalmans 'pani'. But it is one and the same thing.
Opinions are but paths. Each religion is only a path leading to God, as
rivers come from different directions and ultimately become one in the one
ocean."
"I see people who talk about religions constantly quarrelling with one
another. Hindus, Mussalmans, Brahmos, Saktas, Vaishnavas, Saivas, all
quarrel with one another. They haven't the intelligence to understand that He
who is called Krishna is also Shiva and the Primal Shakti, and that is He
again, who is called Jesus and Allah. There is only one Rama and He has a
thousand names."
- Sri Ramakrishna
****************************************************************
You must remember that humanity travels not from error to truth, but from
truth to truth; it may be, if you like it better, from lower truth to higher
truth, but never from error to truth. Suppose you start from here and travel
towards the sun in a straight line. From here the sun looks only small in size
. Suppose you go forwards a million miles, the sun will be much bigger. At
every stage the sun will become bigger and bigger. Suppose twenty thousand
photographs had been taken of the same sun, from different standpoints; these
twenty thousand photographs will certainly differ from one another. But can
you deny that each is a photograph of the same sun? So all forms of religion,
high or low, are just different stages towards that eternal state of light,
which is God Himself. Some embody a lower view, some a higher, and that is all
the difference.
- Vivekananda (Complete Works IV, p147)
****************************************************************
The Yogi says there is a great danger in stumbling upon this state (Samadhi).
In a good many cases there is the danger of the brain being deranged, and, as
a rule, you will find that all these men, however great they were, who had
stumbled upon this superconsciousness state without understanding it, groped
in the dark, and generally had, along with their knowledge, some quaint
superstation. They opened themselves to hallucinations. Mohammed claimed that
the Angel Gabriel came to him in a cave one day and took him on the heavenly
horse, Harak, and he visited the heavens. But with all that, Mohammed spoke
some wonderful truths. If you read tha Koran, you find the most wonderful
truths mixed with superstitions. How will you explain it? That man was
inspired, no doubt, but that inspiration was, as it were stumbled upon. He
was not a trained Yogi, and did not know the reason of what he is doing.
Think of the good Mohammed did to the world, and think of the great evil that
had been done through his fanaticism. Think of the millions massacred through
his teachings, mothers bereft of their children, children made orphans,
whole countries destroyed, millions and millions of people killed.
- Vivekananda (Complete Works I, p184)
The RKM claim that it is not a Hindu organization is of course bogus. They were forced to take that course because the Communist Govt in West Bengal was threatening to take over their schools, colleges, orphanges. They were advised by their lawyers that the only way to save their property was to declare themselves as minority since Indian constitution gives special rights to minorities. They managed to save their institutions for 20 years by using that legal maneouvre. No one in the RKM believes their "legal position" that they are not Hindus.
What is Ramakrishna and Vivekananda's position about other religions. I give below direct quotes:
*************************************************************************************
"God can be realized through all paths. All religions are true. The important
thing is to reach the roof. You can reach it by stone stairs or by wooden
stairs or by bamboo steps or by a rope. You can also climb up by a bamboo
pole.
You may say that there are many errors and superstitions in another religion.
I should reply: Suppose there are. Every religion has errors. Every one thinks
that his watch alone gives the correct time. It is enough to have yearning for
God. It is enough to love Him and feel attracted to Him. Don't you know that
God is the Inner Guide? He sees the longing of our heart and the yearning of
our soul. Suppose a man has several sons. The older boys address him
distinctly as 'Baba' or 'Papa', but the babies can at best call him 'Ba' or
'Pa'. Now will the father be angry with those who address him in this
indistinct way? The father knows that they too are calling him, only they
cannot pronounce his name well. All children are same to the father.
Likewise, the devotees call on God alone, though by different names. They call
on One Person only. God is one, but His names are many."
"It is not good to feel that one's own religion alone is true and all others
are false. God is one only and not two. Diferent people call on Him by
different names, some as Allah, some as God, and others as Krishna, Siva,
and Brahman. It is like water in a lake. Some drink it at one place and call
it 'jal', others at another place and call it 'pani', and still others at a
third place and call it 'water'. The Hindus call it 'jal', the Christians
call it 'water', and the Mussalmans 'pani'. But it is one and the same thing.
Opinions are but paths. Each religion is only a path leading to God, as
rivers come from different directions and ultimately become one in the one
ocean."
"I see people who talk about religions constantly quarrelling with one
another. Hindus, Mussalmans, Brahmos, Saktas, Vaishnavas, Saivas, all
quarrel with one another. They haven't the intelligence to understand that He
who is called Krishna is also Shiva and the Primal Shakti, and that is He
again, who is called Jesus and Allah. There is only one Rama and He has a
thousand names."
- Sri Ramakrishna
****************************************************************
You must remember that humanity travels not from error to truth, but from
truth to truth; it may be, if you like it better, from lower truth to higher
truth, but never from error to truth. Suppose you start from here and travel
towards the sun in a straight line. From here the sun looks only small in size
. Suppose you go forwards a million miles, the sun will be much bigger. At
every stage the sun will become bigger and bigger. Suppose twenty thousand
photographs had been taken of the same sun, from different standpoints; these
twenty thousand photographs will certainly differ from one another. But can
you deny that each is a photograph of the same sun? So all forms of religion,
high or low, are just different stages towards that eternal state of light,
which is God Himself. Some embody a lower view, some a higher, and that is all
the difference.
- Vivekananda (Complete Works IV, p147)
****************************************************************
The Yogi says there is a great danger in stumbling upon this state (Samadhi).
In a good many cases there is the danger of the brain being deranged, and, as
a rule, you will find that all these men, however great they were, who had
stumbled upon this superconsciousness state without understanding it, groped
in the dark, and generally had, along with their knowledge, some quaint
superstation. They opened themselves to hallucinations. Mohammed claimed that
the Angel Gabriel came to him in a cave one day and took him on the heavenly
horse, Harak, and he visited the heavens. But with all that, Mohammed spoke
some wonderful truths. If you read tha Koran, you find the most wonderful
truths mixed with superstitions. How will you explain it? That man was
inspired, no doubt, but that inspiration was, as it were stumbled upon. He
was not a trained Yogi, and did not know the reason of what he is doing.
Think of the good Mohammed did to the world, and think of the great evil that
had been done through his fanaticism. Think of the millions massacred through
his teachings, mothers bereft of their children, children made orphans,
whole countries destroyed, millions and millions of people killed.
- Vivekananda (Complete Works I, p184)