Swamiji discusses seemingly ‘different’ aspects of God. Talk Excerpt 199.
From Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet
If you worship the Deity in one Incarnation, you may be born in a different place, a different religion but have the same Deity. Two of Master’s [Sri Ramakrishna’s] disciples, Swami Ramakrishnananda and Swami Saradananda, were known to have been disciples of Jesus Christ in Christ’s lifetime. They were attracted to Sri Ramakrishna because previously they had worshipped him as Christ.
After Master’s passing, when the disciples of Master took their [monastic] vows and resolved to renounce, they realised that they had renounced on Christmas eve. This is so important to us. They were so cheerful at heart. It seems that the grace of the Lord follows us even on the day of the renunciation of the pleasure of the senses i.e. sannyasa.
Master had a vision through the son of Mary [Jesus]. There was a painting of Mary and the child; and out of the picture came a vision. Sri Ramakrishna also saw the form of the baby Jesus.
I did not see Mother Kali with lolling tongue, in flesh and bone, but in the astral world they do exist. Like this he too, Jesus Christ, walks the face of the Earth. The visions of Sri Ramakrishna that you doubt, and that which the scholars call myth, they saw it somehow. They exist in the astral world up to now.
Sri Ramakrishna loka is an omnipresent loka. You exist in Sri Ramakrishna, and Sri Ramakrishna exists everywhere and in everything. If you worship the form of Sri Ramakrishna, and practice the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, then your realisation must be from the tiniest ant to the highest god. Only then will you know what Sri Ramakrishna is.
We do not want you to convert anything. The Ishta Devata [personal deity] is an aspect of Brahman.
Once Swami Vivekananda advised that it is possible to worship Allah and Rama in the same family – but they must not discuss it with each other. It is more intimate than the husband and wife; therefore it must not be discussed with anybody because it leads to a feeling of inferiority and superiority.
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