RAM KRISHNA PARAMHANS

RAM KRISHNA PARAMHANS

Ram Krishna Paramhans was India’s great spiritual leader who is remembered for his valuable teachings base on humanity. He is primarily a religious reformer. He was a deeply spiritual man who believed that the basic meaning of all religions was the same.

Ram Krishna Paramhans was born on February 18, 1836 in a poor orthodox Brahmin family in a remote village of Bengal. His original name was Gagadhar. Even at the age of five, he had a burning desire to study the lives of saints. As he grew up he wished to have a vision of Goddess Kali, whom he considers as the Devine Mother. As his realization deepend the vision of the Devine Mother became luminous while he was the priest of Dakshineswar Temple in Kolkata. He would enter into deep trance and loose consciousness just to seek the truth.

Ram Krishna said that meditation and devotion were paths to religious salvation. He emphasized the concept of service to man because for him, man was the symbol of God.

According to him character formation was essential to earn true spirituality. He felt that over coming vices like greed, lust and anger and renunciation of materialistic pleasures were the stops towards character building. He was a great saint who taught the concept of equality among men. He practiced what he preached.

His life was full of episodes that were against untouchability, sex discrimination and castes. All religions were the same in his eyes. He believed that all religions led to one and finally one path through different tracks. According to him the truth of every religion was to become a perfect man, the essence of life. Thus he embraced all religions and preached the gospel of love, fraternity and secularism. His unique anecdotes and parables provide emotional guidance to the common people.

Ram Krishna had great respect for the women. He treated every woman as his mother and therefore he would not lead a married life when his mother tried toward off his madness by getting him married to Sharadha. He said that the mother (Kali) enlightened him that she resides in every woman.

Thus he was a man of noble soul who had intense love for others. We can’t all be Ram Krishna Paramhans but we could in a lesser or greater imbibe the essence of his preaching’s-the deeper truths for which he lived and died. It would our best homage to that great soul whose need become more relevant today when the whole world is crying for peace and disarmament.

Ram Krishna’s greatest disciple was Swami Vivekananda who founded the Ram Krishna Mission propagate the teachings of his guru and to carry on social work.