Ramakrishna Paramhans
Ramakrishna Paramhans (1836 - 1886) born Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya, was an Indian Hindu mystic and saint. He was primarily a worshiper of the Goddess Kali, but became the first person in religious history of India to practice even Tantra, Vaishnava, Advaita, Vedanta, Christianity and even Islam, and reached the same enlightenment that he got from worship of the Shakti. He therefore declared that the different religions represented "so many paths to reach one and the same goal." His chief disciple was Swami Vivekananda. He died of cancer of the throat.Wisdom & Quotes
- Live like a mud-fish: its skin is bright and shiny even though it lives in mud.
- The truth is that you cannot attain God if you have even a trace of desire. Subtle is the way of dharm. If you are trying to thread a needle, you will not succeed if the thread has even a slight fibre sticking out.
- Man is like a pillowcase. The colour of one may be red, another blue, another black, but all contain the same cotton. So it is with man - one is beautiful, one is black, another is holy, a fourth wicked, but the divine dwells in them all.
- These people are like… a frog living in a well, who has never seen the outside world. He knows only his well, so he will not believe that there is such a thing as the world. Likewise, people talk so much about the world because they have not known the joy of God.
- God cannot be realized if there is the slightest trace of pride.
- The truth is that God alone is real and all else unreal. Men, universe, house, and children - all these are like the magic of the magician. The magician strikes his wand and says, 'Come, delusion! Come, confusion!' Then he says to the audience, 'Open the lid of this pot: see the birds fly into the sky.' But the magician alone is real and his magic unreal. The unreal exists for a second and then vanishes.
- Sugar and sand may be mixed together, but the ant rejects the sand and goes off with the sugar grain; so pious men lift the good from the bad.
- By the mind one is bound; by the mind one is freed. …He who asserts with strong conviction: 'I am not bound, I am free,' becomes free.
- You should love everyone because God dwells in all beings.
- The fool who repeats again and again: 'I am bound, I am bound,' remains in bondage. He who repeats day and night: 'I am a sinner, I am a sinner,' becomes a sinner indeed.
- When a man is in the plains, he sees the lowly grass and the mighty pine tree and says how big is the tree and how small the grass is. But when he ascends the mountain and looks from its high peak to the plain below, the mighty pine tree and the lowly grass blend into one indistinct mass of green. So in the sight of the worldly man there are differences of rank and position, but when divine sight is opened, there remains no distinction of high and low.
- So many religions, so many paths to reach the one and the same goal.
- So long as the bee is outside the petals of the lotus and has not tasted its honey, it hovers around the flower, emitting its buzzing sound; but when it is inside the flower, it drinks its nectar noiselessly. So long as man quarrels and disputes about doctrines and dogmas, he has not tasted the nectar of true faith; when he tastes it he becomes still.
- Again, the worldly man is like a snake trying to swallow a mole. The snake can neither swallow the mole nor give it up.
Crowfoot