Talk Excerpt 251. Swamiji describes the all-inclusiveness of Sri Ramakrishna.
From Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
[Below is the mantra to Sri Ramakrishna, which Swamiji told us was ’empowered’ by Swami Vivekananda.]
Aum Aim sarva deva devi swarupaaya sri ramakrishnaaya namah. [Master’s bija, ‘aim’, is not pronounced as in aim at a goal, but ‘eym’ as in the Sanskrit letter ऐं ]. We call Sri Ramakrishna the Embodiment, or the Consciousness of all the deities embodied in the body called Sri Ramakrishna. He represents the past, present and future.
Embodiments of God from the past, like Sri Ram, Sri Krishna, Christ and Buddha are now embodied in Sri Ramakrishna for the present and the future. Thus Sri Ramakrishna is the embodiment of God for all times. Do not think that I am being fanatical. This is the Truth.
The day before yesterday I said to a devotee, ‘If this Sri Ramakrishna cannot help you, if you find he is not fulfilling your prayers, and if you are sincere, then do not worship him.’
I want a God that is living. The Lord can fulfill our wishes and at the same time guide us in such a way that our minds become purified, guide us so we know who we are: I and my Father are One.
Swami Vivekananda said, ‘I do not want to speak about the Master – because in speaking about him I may belittle him.’ This means that only a few can really understand who Sri Ramakrishna is. He is God and our perception of Him might not be correct.
Once, a disciple of the Master asked Swami Vivekananda, ‘Who do you think Sri Ramakrishna is? We know of divine beings like Rama; Krishna; Hanumanji and other forms of God. Who is Sri Ramakrishna?’ Swami Vivekananda thought deeply and replied calmly, ‘I think that he is Rama; Krishna; Hanumanji, and much more than that. He is THAT from which all these divine beings come. What can I say about him? Who will understand?’
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These recordings or the excerpts from them, were made from the early 1970s onward, by Mother Radha, a close devotee of Swamiji’s and edited for uploading here by our gurubhai and her son, Brother Tim. Please be mindful that what Swamiji was saying may have been specific to an individual or a group of people with him, at the time.