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"He was always in his mood of divine ecstasy. He practiced all the methods through which the Christians, Mohemmedans, Vaishnavas, and others worship God and realize truth, and thereby he tasted God's disports in diverse ways. Days and nights passed by him without any notice. But what you should note, my dear, is that renunciation is his special message in this age. Did any one see such natural renunciation any time before ?" -- Sri Sarada
Devi, wedded at the tender age of 5 to Sri Ramakrishna,
and revered as Holy Mother in the Order.
"This man came to live near Calcutta, the capital of India, the most important university town in our country which was sending out skeptics and materialists by the hundreds every year. Yet many of these university men--skeptics and agnostics--used to come and listen to him. I heard of this man, and I went to hear him. He looked just like an ordinary man, with nothing remarkable about him. He used the most simple language, and I thought, 'Can this man be a great teacher?'--crept near to him and asked him the question which I had been asking others all my life: 'Do you believe in God, Sir?' 'Yes,' he replied. 'Can you prove it, Sir?' 'Yes.' 'How?' 'Because I see Him just as I see you here, only in a much intenser sense.' That impressed me at once. For the first time I found a man who dared to say that he saw God, that religion was a reality to be felt, to be sensed in an infinitely more intense way than we can sense the world. I began to go to that man, day after day, and I actually saw that religion could be given. One touch, one glance, can change a whole life. " -- Swami Vivekananda,
about
his guru Sri Ramakrishna.
"The world could not bear a second birth like that of Ramakrishna in five hundred years. The mass of thought that he has left has first to be transformed into experience; the spiritual energy given forth has to be converted into achievement. Until that is done, what right have we to ask for more? What could we do with more?" -- Sri
Aurobindo, Indian nationalist and mystic philosopher,
considered a saint by many Indians.
"Ramakrishna was a living embodiment of godliness. His sayings are not those of a mere learned man but they are pages from the Book of Life. They are revelations of his own experiences. They therefore leave on the reader an impression which he cannot resist. In this age of skepticism Ramakrishna presents an example of a bright and living faith which gives solace to thousands of men and women who would otherwise have remained without spiritual light. Ramakrishna's life was an object-lesson in Ahimsa. His love knew no limits, geographical or otherwise. May his divine love be an inspiration to all." -- Mahatma
Gandhi, father of the modern
Indian nation, who himself penned a foreword to the book "Life of Sri Ramakrishna"
published by Advaita Ashrama.
To the Paramahamsa Ramakrishna Deva "Diverse courses of worship
"The man whose image I here evoke was the consummation of two thousand years of the spiritual life of three hundred million people. Although he has been dead forty years, his soul animates modern India. He was no hero of action like Gandhi, no genius in art or thought like Gandhi or Tagore. He was a little village Brahmin of Bengal whose outer life was set in a limited frame without striking incident, outside the social and political activity of the time. But his inner life embraced the whole multiplicity of men and Gods. It was a part of the very source of Energy, the Divine Shakti, of whom Vidyapati, the old poet of Mithila, and Ramprasad of Bengal sing." -- Romain
Rolland, Nobel Laureate in Literature, 1915
"The fervent love of God, nay, the sense of complete absorption in Godhead, has nowhere found a stronger and more eloquent expression than in the utterances of Ramakrishna. They show the exalted nature of his faith. How deep he has seen into the mysteries of knowledge and love of God we see from his sayings... These utterances of Ramakrishna reveal to us not only his own thoughts, but the faith and hope of millions of human beings.. .This constant sense of the presence of God is indeed the common ground on which we may hope that in time not too distant, the great temple of the future will be erected, in which the Hindus and non-Hindus may join hands and hearts in worshipping the same Supreme Spirit -- who is not far from every one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being." -- Max
Muller, German orientalist and language scholar whose
works stimulated widespread interest in the study of linguistics, mythology,
and religion.
"Sri Ramakrishna made his appearance and delivered his message at the time and the place at which he and his message were needed. This message could hardly have been delivered by anyone who had not been brought up in the Hindu religious tradition. Sri Ramakrishna was born in Bengal in 1836. He was born into a world that in his lifetime was, for the first time, being united on a literally worldwide scale. Today we are still living in this transitional chapter of the world's history, but it is already becoming clear that a chapter which had a Western beginning will have to have an Indian ending, if it is not to end in the self-destruction of the human race. In the present age, the world has been united on the material plane by Western technology. But this Western skill has not only 'annihilated distance'; it has armed the peoples of the world with weapons of devastating power at a time when they have been brought to point blank range of each other without yet having learnt to know and love each other. At this supremely dangerous moment in human history, the only way of salvation for mankind is an Indian way. Sri Ramakrishna's message was unique in being expressed in action. Religion is not just a matter for study, it is something that has to be experienced and to be lived, and this is the field in which Sri Ramakrishna manifested his uniqueness... His religious activity and experience were, in fact, comprehensive to a degree that had perhaps never before been attained by any other religious genius, in India or elsewhere." -- Arnold
Toynbee, British Historian whose 12-volume series
A Study of History (1934-1961) has had considerable influence on modern
attitudes toward history, religion, and international affairs
"Sri Ramakrishna was completely beyond the average run of men. He appears rather to belong to the tradition of the great rishis of India, who have come from time to time to turn our attention to the higher things of life and of the spirit." -- Jawaharlal
Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India
and the architect of India's foreign policy
"Narendra (Swami Vivekananda's pre-monastic name) is a Nitya Siddha (eternally perfect), he is a Dhyana Siddha (perfect in meditation). The fire of knowledge, ever ablaze in him, would reduce to ashes all blemishes pertaining to food. His mind, therefore, will not be tarnished or distracted even if he takes whatever he likes at any place, and from any person. He daily cuts to pieces Maya's bondages with the sword of knowledge; Mahamaya, therefore, fails to bring him under Her control." -- Sri Ramakrishna,
about a decade before Narendra became world famous
"These boys are good. But I have not seen another boy like Narendra. He is as efficient in music, vocal and instrumental, as in the acquisition of knowledge, in conversation as well as in religious matters. He loses normal consciousness in meditation during whole nights. My Narendra is a coin with no alloy whatsoever: toss it up, and you hear the truest sound. I see other boys somehow pass two or three examinations with the utmost strain. There it ends, they are spent-up forces. But Narendra is not like that. He does everything with the greatest ease, and passing an examination is but a trifle with him. He goes to the Brahmo Samaj also and sings devotional songs there; but he is not like other Brahmos. He is a true knower of Brahman. He sees Light when he sits for meditation. Is it for nothing that I love Narendra so much?" -- Sri Ramakrishna,
about a decade before Narendra became world famous
"I saw Kesav has become world famous on account of the abundance of one power, but Narendra has in him eighteen such powers in the fullest measure. The hearts of Kesav and Vijay, I saw again, are brightened by a light of knowledge like a flame of a lamp; but looking at Narendra, I found that the very sun of knowledge had risen in his heart and removed from there even the slightest tinge of Maya and delusion." -- Sri Ramakrishna,
about a decade before Narendra became world famous
"Now, one day I saw, to my great surprise, that the Master (Sri Ramakrishna) was coming towards the house [in Kamarpukar] from the direction of Bhuti's canal. He was followed by Naren (Swami Vivekananda's pre-monastic name), Baburam (Swami Premananda's pre-monastic name), Rakhal (Swami Brahmananda's pre-monastic name) and many other devotees. Further, I saw that from his feet sprang a stream of water which flowed in front of him in waves. I said to myself, 'I see he is everything. The Ganges has sprung from his lotus feet!' Quickly I plucked flowers from the side of the Raghuvir temple and offered handfuls of them into the stream ... The Master then stood at the foot of yonder peepul tree. I saw at last the Master disappearing in the body of Naren. Take the dust of this place and bow down!" -- Holy Mother,
narrating
a significant mystic experience after the passing away of Sri Ramakrishna
"Of the Swami's address before the Parliament of Religions, it may be said that when he began to speak it was of "the religious ideas of the Hindus", but when he ended, Hinduism had been created." ... He stands merely as the Revealer, the Interpreter to India of the treasures that she herself possesses in herself. The truths he preaches would have been as true, had he never been born. Nay more, they would have been equally authentic. The difference would have lain in their difficulty of access, in their want of modern clearness and incisiveness of statement, and in their loss of mutual coherence and unity. Had he not lived, texts that today will carry the bread of life to thousands might have remained the obscure disputes of scholars. He taught with authority, and not as one of the Pundits. For he himself had plunged to the depths of the realization which he preached, and he came back like Ramanuja only to tell its secrets to the pariah, the outcast, and the foreigner." -- Sister Nivedita
'In May 1908, after being arrested on suspicion of being involved in a bomb plot, the British kept him in jail for a year, under threat of the death sentence if guilty. But the experience manifested itself as a time of spiritual revelation, wherein the true aim of his life was revealed to him. He later confided to his disciples: "Vivekananda visited me for fifteen days in Alipur Jail and, until I could grasp the whole thing, he went on teaching me and impressed upon my mind the working of the Higher Consciousness. He would not leave me until I had it all in my head". He also was aware that he was receiving guidance from Sri Krishna, the most recent Avatar of the omnipresent Brahman. The meaning and purpose of man's existence were disclosed to him. He came to the deeper realization that Life and Matter are not to be shunned through withdrawal, but to be perfected by making manifest the Spirit within them. He perceived that throughout the aeons of time the Adventure of Evolution is moving humanity to rediscover its divine origin.' -- Aurobindo,
from Sri Aurobindo & The Mother
My homage and respect to the very revered memory of Swami Vivekananda . . . . after having gone through [his works], the love that I had for my country became a thousandfold." -- Mahatma
Gandhi, father of the modern
Indian nation
"His whole life and teaching inspired my generation. . . . he brought his great spirituality to bear upon his patriotism and thus his message was not confined to India only, but was for the whole world. I pay my homage to his memory." -- Jawaharlal
Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India
and the architect of India's foreign policy
I cannot write about Vivekananda without going into raptures. Few indeed could comprehend or fathom him even among those who had the privilege of becoming intimate with him. His personality was rich, profound and complex... Reckless in his sacrifice, unceasing in his activity, boundless in his love, profound and versatile in his wisdom, exuberant in his emotions, merciless in his attacks but yet simple as a child, he was a rare personality in this world of ours.... -- Subhash
Chandra Bose, a national leader of India.
"Vivekananda saved Hinduism and saved India. But for him, we would have lost our religion and would not have gained our freedom. We therefore owe everything to Swami Vivekananda." -- Chakravarti
Rajagopalachari, Bharat Ratna and free India’s first
Governor General
"The thought of this warrior prophet of India left a deep mark upon the United States . . . . I cannot touch these sayings of his, scattered as they are through the pages of this book at thirty years' distance, without receiving a thrill through my body like an electric shock. And what shock, what transport, must have been produced when, in burning words, they issued from the lips of the hero!" -- Romain
Rolland, Nobel Laureate in Literature, 1915
"[Vivekananda is] one of the very greatest historical figures that India has ever produced. When one sees the full range of his mind, one is astounded." "The man [Vivekananda] is simply a wonder for oratorical power . . . the Swami is an honor to humanity." "At this exposition [the Parliament of Religions], the Swami charmed audiences with his magical oratory, and left an indelible mark on America's spiritual development." -- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
(from "Abroad in America: Visitors to the New Nation")
"It was the voice of the ancient rishis of the Vedas, speaking sweet words of love and toleration." -- The Brooklyn Standard
"She is Sarada, Saraswati. She has come to impart knowledge. She has descended by covering up her beauty this time... She is full of wisdom. Is she of the common run? She is my Shakti." "Brother, I shall demonstrate the worship of the living Durga, and then shall my name be true..Brother, I tell you, I am a fanatic in this matter. Of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, you may assert that he was God, man, or whatever you like; but fie on him, who is not devoted to the Mother." "You have not yet understood the wonderful significance of Mother's life -- none of you. But gradually you will know. Without Shakti (Power) there is no regeneration for the world. Mother was born to revive that wonderful Shakti in India: and making her the nucleus, once more will Gargis and Maitreyis be born into the world." "Immediately after establishing the Math, Swamiji (Swami Vivekananda) installed there the dust of Mother's feet, which is being worshiped in the Belur Math even today. As long as the Math will be there, this worship will go on. Only Swamiji understood the Mother. None else had the idea that she was Lakshmi Herself. Whom to tell all these things! To comprehend her grace one requires a lot of austerities. Your regard for the Mother is mere talk! To understand her one has to practice austerities. Then will flow her grace, by which one can know her. It is then that one's claim to the effect that one knows the Mother is fruitful. "Make the Mother your ideal. No use coming to me. The Mother herself is there, to know whom, I have been sitting here. It is a great good fortune that you have received the Mother's instructions. Where can one find such renunciation as the Mother? "What at all shall I say to the Mother? She comes to know everything. My mother, that Mother of Dakshineshwar! Is there any comparison to Mother's grace? Does the Mother expect anything from us? No expectation, only selfless compassion -- she gives refuge to all so that they may remember God at least in the morning and evening and lead pure lives. Look at this boy who cannot speak and has no home; even him the Mother has blessed. "You have been with me for such a long time. I write letters to so many people. You could not have asked me why I do not write to the Mother. Do you know why I do not write to the Mother? Mother knows my past, future and everything. What is the point in writing to her just for a public show? What is the necessity of writing to one who knows everything about my past, present and future? One has to write to them who do not understand. "I do not speak about the Mother in all and sundry places, because all won't understand or they will rather misunderstand. I generally talk about Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. Will the Mother become a stranger to me just because I do not go to see her? You ask, 'How do I look upon the Mother?' She is Mother Lakshmi, again, she is sometimes Sita. " -- Swami
Abhedananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna.
Beloved Mother, .... Dear Mother! You are full of love! And it is not a flushed and violent love like ours, and like the world's but a gentle peace that brings good to everyone and wishes ill to none. It is a golden radiance, full of play ... I felt such a wonderful freedom in the blessing you gave me, and in your welcome home! Dear Mother -- I wish we could send you a wonderful hymn, or a prayer. But somehow even that would seem too loud, too full of noise! Surely you are the most wonderful thing of Sri Ramakrishna's own chalice of His children in these lonely days, and we should be very still and quiet before you -- except indeed for a little fun! Surely the 'wonderful things of God' are all quiet -- stealing unnoticed into our lives -- the air and the sunlight and the sweetness of gardens and of the Ganges. These are the silent things that are like you! ... Ever, my darling Mother, your foolish Khooki (baby),
-- Sister Nivedita
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