Mahendranath Gupta - The Gospel of ...

Mahendranath Gupta - The Gospel of Ramakrishna, Jnana

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA
“SRI SRI RAMAKRISHNA KATHAMRITA”
By Mahendranath Gupta (“M”), His Disciple
Translated from the Bengali by Swami Nikhilananda
Reproduced from the webpage of
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission
1
FOREWORD
by
Aldous Huxley
IN THE HISTORY of the arts, genius is a thing of very rare occurrence. Rarer still,
however, are the competent reporters and recorders of that genius. The world has had
many hundreds of admirable poets and philosophers; but of these hundreds only a very
few have had the fortune to attract a Boswell or an Eckermann.
When we leave the field of art for that of spiritual religion, the scarcity of competent
reporters becomes even more strongly marked. Of the day-to-day life of the great
theocentric saints and contemplatives we know, in the great majority of cases, nothing
whatever. Many, it is true, have recorded their doctrines in writing, and a few, such as
St. Augustine, Suso and St. Teresa, have left us autobiographies of the greatest value.
But, all doctrinal writing is in some measure formal and impersonal, while the
autobiographer tends to omit what he regards as trifling matters and suffers from the
further disadvantage of being unable to say how he strikes other people and in what way
he affects their lives. Moreover, most saints have left neither writings nor self-portraits,
and for knowledge of their lives, their characters and their teachings, we are forced to
rely upon the records made by their disciples who, in most cases, have proved
themselves singularly incompetent as reporters and biographers. Hence the special
interest attaching to this enormously detailed account of the daily life and conversations
of Sri Ramakrishna.
"M", as the author modestly styles himself, was peculiarly qualified for his task. To a
reverent love for his master, to a deep and experiential knowledge of that master's
teaching, he added a prodigious memory for the small happenings of each day and a
happy gift for recording them in an interesting and realistic way. Making good use of his
natural gifts and of the circumstances in which he found himself, "M" produced a book
unique, so far as my knowledge goes, in the literature of hagiography. No other saint
has had so able and indefatigable a Boswell. Never have the small events of a
contemplative's daily life been described with such a wealth of intimate detail. Never
have the casual and unstudied utterances of a great religious teacher been set down
with so minute a fidelity. To Western readers, it is true, this fidelity and this wealth of
detail are sometimes a trifle disconcerting; for the social, religious and intellectual
frames of reference within which Sri Ramakrishna did his thinking and expressed his
feelings were entirely Indian. But after the first few surprises and bewilderments, we
begin to find something peculiarly stimulating and instructive about the very strangeness
and, to our eyes, the eccentricity of the man revealed to us in "M's" narrative. What a
scholastic philosopher would call the "accidents" of Ramakrishna's life were intensely
Hindu and therefore, so far as we in the West are concerned, unfamiliar and hard to
understand; its "essence", however, was intensely mystical and therefore universal. To
read through these conversations in which mystical doctrine alternates with an
unfamiliar kind of humour, and where discussions of the oddest 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
2
judgment. We must be grateful to the translator for his excellent version of a book so
curious and delightful as a biographical document, so precious, at the same time, for
what it teaches us of the life of the spirit.
--------------------
3
PREFACE
by Swāmi Nikhilānanda
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is the English translation of the
Sri Sri Rāmakrishna
Kathāmrita,
the conversations of Sri Ramakrishna with his disciples, devotees, and
visitors, recorded by Mahendranāth Gupta, who wrote the book under the pseudonym of
"M." The conversations in Bengali fill five volumes, the first of which was published in
1897 and the last shortly after M.'s death in 1932. Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras, has
published in two volumes an English translation of selected chapters from the
monumental Bengali work. I have consulted these while preparing my translation.
M., one of the intimate disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, was present during all the
conversations recorded in the main body of the book and noted them down in his diary.
They therefore have the value of almost stenographic records. In Appendix A are given
several conversations which took place in the absence of M., but of which he received a
first-hand record from persons concerned. The conversations will bring before the
reader's mind an intimate picture of the Master's eventful life from March 1882 to April
24, 1886, only a few months before his passing away. During this period he came in
contact chiefly with English-educated Bengālis; from among them he selected his
disciples and the bearers of his message, and with them he shared his rich spiritual
experiences.
I have made a literal translation, omitting only a few pages of no particular interest to
English-speaking readers. Often literary grace has been sacrificed for the sake of literal
translation. No translation can do full justice to the original. This difficulty is all the
more felt in the present work, whose contents are of a deep mystical nature and
describe the inner experiences of a great seer. Human language is an altogether
inadequate vehicle to express supersensuous perception. Sri Ramakrishna was almost
illiterate. He never clothed his thoughts in formal language. His words sought to convey
his direct realization of Truth. His conversation was in a village patois. Therein lies its
charm. In order to explain to his listeners an abstruse philosophy, he, like Christ before
him, used with telling effect homely parables and illustrations, culled from his
observation of the daily life around him.
The reader will find mentioned in this work many visions and experiences that fall
outside the ken of physical science and even psychology. With the development of
modern knowledge the border line between the natural and the supernatural is ever
shifting its position. Genuine mystical experiences are not as suspect now as they were
half a century ago. The words of Sri Ramakrishna have already exerted a tremendous
influence in the land of his birth. Savants of Europe have found in his words the ring of
universal truth.
But these words were not the product of intellectual cogitation; they were rooted in
direct experience. Hence, to students of religion, psychology, and physical science,
these experiences of the Master are of immense value for the understanding of religious
4
phenomena in general. No doubt Sri Ramakrishna was a Hindu of the Hindus; yet his
experiences transcended the limits of the dogmas and creeds of Hinduism. Mystics of
religions other than Hinduism will find in Sri Ramakrishna's experiences a corroboration
of the experiences of their own prophets and seers. And this is very important today for
the resuscitation of religious values. The sceptical reader may pass by the supernatural
experiences; he will yet find in the book enough material to provoke his serious thought
and solve many of his spiritual problems.
There are repetitions of teachings and parables in the book. I have kept them
purposely. They have their charm and usefulness, repeated as they were in different
settings. Repetition is unavoidable in a work of this kind. In the first place, different
seekers come to a religious teacher with questions of more or less identical nature;
hence the answers will be of more or less identical pattern. Besides, religious teachers
of all times and climes have tried, by means of repetition, to hammer truths into the
stony soil of the recalcitrant human mind. Finally, repetition does not seem tedious if
the ideas repeated are dear to a man's heart.
I have thought it necessary to write a rather lengthy Introduction to the book. In it I
have given the biography of the Master, descriptions of people who came in contact with
him, short explanations of several systems of Indian religious thought intimately
connected with Sri Ramakrishna's life, and other relevant matters which, I hope, will
enable the reader better to understand and appreciate the unusual contents of this
book. It is particularly important that the Western reader, unacquainted with Hindu
religious thought, should first read carefully the introductory chapter, in order that he
may fully enjoy these conversations. Many Indian terms and names have been retained
in the book for want of suitable English equivalents. Their meaning is given either in the
Glossary or in the foot-notes. The Glossary also gives explanations of a number of
expressions unfamiliar to Western readers. The diacritical marks are explained under
Notes on Pronunciation.
In the Introduction I have drawn much material from the Life of Sri Ramakrishna,
published by the Advaita Ashrama, Māyāvati, India. I have also consulted the excellent
article on Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Nirvedānanda, in the second volume of the Cultural
Heritage of India.
The book contains many songs sung either by the Master or by the devotees. These
form an important feature of the spiritual tradition of Bengal and were for the most part
written by men of mystical experience. For giving the songs their present form I am
grateful to Mr. John Moffitt, Jr.
In the preparation of this manuscript I have received ungrudging help from several
friends. Miss Margaret Woodrow Wilson and Mr.Joseph Campbell have worked hard in
editing my translation. Mrs.Elizabeth Davidson has typed, more than once, the entire
manuscript and rendered other valuable help. Mr.Aldous Huxley has laid me under a
debt of gratitude by writing the Foreword. I sincerely thank them all.
5
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

zanotowane.pl

doc.pisz.pl

pdf.pisz.pl

mement.xlx.pl