Swamiji on Sri Ramakrishna, Tota Puri and Maya.
Swamiji starts the discussion by telling devotees that Swami Vivekananda said Sri Ramakrishna was 'a [living] commentary' on the Upanishads.
Swamiji expands on that thought and brings Tota Puri into the discussion.[Admin: Tota Puri was the naked Advaitin sadhu and 'acharya' from whom the Ramakrishna Order monks take their monastic name suffix of, 'Puri' – indicating their guruparampara or lineage. This exquisite lila/play of Sri Ramakrishna appearing to need a Guru for any facet of his spiritual development, demonstrates the unstinting nature of divine love for the upliftment of all human kind. Swamiji told us that Sri Ramakrishna incarnated with the fullest suite of powers of all of the Incarnations to date. But put himself in the position of being a simple temple priest, to show us that bhakti – devotion – and sincerity could achieve the highest spiritual goal of God-realisation, and that lofty philosophy alone, was not the only way. That religions are like rivers, which all lead into ONE ocean called God – This was his world-shaking teaching, and a concept which revolutionised religion and spirituality.]
Tota Puri – although having experienced the highest, non-dual [without form] Nirvikalpa samadhi, had not yet experienced the dualistic side of God-realisation, which Sri Ramakrishna described as 'the other side of the same coin'. Master [Sri Ramakrishna] introduced this complete realisation, as 'vijnana' – having full realisation of both dual and non-dual. The impersonal and personal aspects of the one divine.
Swamiji humorously tells how the Divine Mother, following Sri Ramakrishna's 'complaint' to Her, about Tota Puri mocking him for 'making chapattis' or roti [by clapping his hands and chanting 'Hari Om' during worship], 'Moved Tota Puri from Nirvikalpa-consciousness, to stomach-consciousness.' 😉
Swamiji explains Tota Puri's decision. As a great jnani he was now thoroughly irritated by his gastric turmoil, and decided to enter the river Ganga and give up the body through 'Jal Samadhi' – a conscious letting-go of it, in water – not suicide, as we know it. Which ends in his case, not in the falling off of his body, however, but in a vision of the Divine Mother, seated on a tiger, laughing, and granting him complete realisation of her fullest reality.
Please listen to Swamiji relating this incredible and delightful saga. It will bless your day. The image at the top of this post, illustrates the concept.
Swamiji uses this glorious true story, to clarify how the feminine component of the Divine conceals or masks her truth – and that's what sages call 'Maya' – her power of partial revelation. This explanation from Swamiji takes our understanding of the nature of God's lila to another level. [Admin: I was blessed to be in this very satsang for the teaching.] As Swamiji says, She exists, but she does not reveal her absolute truth. That's what we call Maya. Which means, 'it's covered' – not altogether – a portion of it will be revealed. Maya does not mean 'not' – it means, 'a portion of it.'
Please listen to how Swamiji concludes these breath-takingly deep, but so, so accessible philosophical truths.
Bless yourself and click on the link below, to listen. Jai Sri Ramakrishna!
Duration: 08:35
The original audio recordings of these posts were made by close Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa and Swami Shivapadananda devotee, Mother Radha. The audio editing and noise reduction of the original 1970s-onwards tapes, has been lovingly engineered, over many years, by her son and our dear gurubhai, Brother Tim. May Sri Ramakrishna and Swamiji bless them both.
Admin tip: If you mouse-over certain words in colour, or underlined words – they're links. If you click on them, they'll take you to an explanation of the particular word or term. [In these overviews, Admin comments are typically in a smaller green font, and square bracketed, like this statement.]
Dear reader, if you spot typos or or other errors, please feel free to email the site admin on info@imbizo.com with your suggested correction/s.
Context: As always, care should be taken to remember that what Swamiji was saying, may have been very specific to the needs of people with him at the time. Please bear this in mind.
Links to our Guruparampara (spiritual lineage) organisations, which will broaden your knowledge base: Ramakrishna Math and Mission and our alma maters, the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa and the Sri Sarada Devi Ashram in Durban.
The image on today's post was created using Microsoft Co-Pilot AI.