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Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda

Revisited in the Light of Tantra


Swami Atmapriyananda

image: sri ramakrishna temple, belur math / dr saibal gupta


The Science and Technology of Religion last mantra of the Katha Upanishad says: ‘This

T
here are two distinct but related vidya or science of Brahman or Atman along
streams in any discipline: theory and prac- with yoga vidhi, or the technology of realisation
tice, the theoretical aspect and the applied was taught by the god of Death to Nachiketa,
aspect, the science and the technology. In Ve- who having obtained this knowledge [the sci-
dantic parlance, the first is called vidya and the ence and technology of Brahman realisation]
second yoga. Vedanta itself is called brahma attained Brahman and became absolutely pure
vidya and its application or practice which may and immortal. In the same way, anyone else who
be called applied vidya, and applied science is pursues the same spiritual discipline will attain
called yoga. These two words, vidya and yoga, are the same goal.’1
very ancient and are found in the Upanishads as The yoga technology has its basis in the
well as the Bhagavadgita. For example, the very Sankhya science. Sankhya-yoga is thus the sci-
ence-technology complementing each other.
Swami Atmapriyananda is the Vice Chancellor of
Similarly, Vedanta-tantra is the science-technol-
Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, ogy complementing each other. To draw a par-
Belur Math. allel from Western philosophy: Hegel’s idealism,

46 PB January 2016
Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda Revisited in the Light of Tantra 57

Kierkegaard’s existentialism, and Hegel’s journey to stay put, for the good of the world, by the
towards his own notion of the Absolute—which Divine Mother Kali, brahma-shakti. The phil-
he calls the ‘concrete reality’—through his dia- osophy or theory of the Ramakrishna Order and
lectical approach of being-nonbeing-becoming Ramakrishna tradition is Vedanta in its Advaitic
triad. In Indian philosophy, the oppositely pos- aspect, as vouched by no less an authority than
itioned are sat, the Being, in the transcendental the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi. It would be
realm and Shakti, the becoming, in the imman- appropriate to quote here an interesting inci-
ent realm of the relative. While Vedanta has to dent in the history of the Ramakrishna Order.
do with the realm of the Absolute—Existence When a dispute arose about Swamiji devoting
Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, and Bliss Abso- his Himalayan ashrama at Mayavati exclusively
lute—tantra deals with the realm of the relative to Advaita and discouraging any dualistic wor-
wherein the Absolute manifests as Shakti, which ship there, Sri Sarada Devi emphatically ruled:
is identical with Brahman as brahma-shakti. ‘One who is our guru [Sri Ramakrishna], he is
The late Swami Hitananda, who was engaged Advaita. Since you all are his disciples, you too
in ritualistic worship at the temple at Rama- are Advaitins. I can emphatically say, you are
krishna Math, Belur Math for several decades, surely Advaitavadins.’2 Despite this, the personal
told the author that the tantra is the practical and esoteric practice performed by the monks
means by which the Vedantic truth of Oneness and other lay devotees of Sri Ramakrishna is
or Advaita is realised. The truth behind this meditation on the divine form and repetition of
statement could be easily understood when we the divine name, the sacred mantra. There is no
see how, the mystic—to some extent esoteric— conflict between these two approaches if we re-
tradition of spiritual practice coming down over member and constantly keep in mind Sri Rama-
the generations from Sri Sarada Devi, Swami krishna’s wonderful harmony and reconciliation
Vivekananda, Swami Brahmananda, and other in the following words:
direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna to the present Brahman and Sakti are identical. If you accept
gurus of the Ramakrishna Order, that is based es- the one, you must accept the other. … one can-
sentially on repetition of the holy name and the not think of Brahman without Sakti, or of Sakti
meditation on the holy image, is derived from without Brahman. One cannot think of the
tantra, rooted in Sri Ramakrishna’s transcenden- Absolute without the Relative, or of the Rela-
tive without the Absolute. … The Primordial
tal and esoteric realisations. Ramakrishna trad-
Power is ever at play. She is creating, preserving,
ition, as it were, places Vedanta at the core of and destroying in play, as it were. This Power is
its Movement, but practises the ‘Practical Ved- called Kali. Kali is verily Brahman, and Brah-
anta’ enunciated by Swamiji that is based on Sri man is verily Kali.3
Ramakrishna’s realisation of the state of vijnana
wherein the world of relativity is not sublated in Every outstanding philosopher-saint in India,
the transcendental realisation, but appears as the upholding and spearheading a great philosophic-
playful expression of the same Reality that was religious tradition, has a highly esoteric leaning
realised as Absolute in the transcendental state. which he does not reveal or preach to the world
Swami Tapasyananda equated this state of vij- at large. For example, Swamiji, a paragon of Ved-
nana with bhavamukha, a state of Being-becom- anta tradition, who was never tired of preaching
ing, in which Sri Ramakrishna was commanded the universal gospel of Advaita to the world at

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58 Prabuddha Bharata

large, had an esoteric leaning towards Kali wor- Why this female power, why not male? What is
ship. In his own words: ‘Kali worship is not a the special significance of the female principle in
necessary step in any religion. The Upanishads tantra? An inkling of this aspect of tantra could
teach us all there is of religion. Kali worship is my be found in the divine play of Swami Viveka-
special fad; you never heard me preach it, or read nanda and Sri Ramakrishna.
of my preaching it in India. I only preach what is
good for universal humanity. If there is any curi- Shakti and Divine Incarnations
ous method which applies entirely to me, I keep Interestingly, most of the prophets and incar-
it a secret and there it ends. I must not explain nations and the spiritual traditions initiated by
to you what Kali worship is, as I never taught it them have a female power to provide susten-
to anybody.’4 Interestingly, it is the same Nar- ance to them and their respective traditions. In
endranath, Swami Vivekananda’s pre-monastic the case of married prophets and avataras, the
name, who struggled to fight and revolt in vain holy consort is regarded as their female power
against his master, Sri Ramakrishna’s attempt to or Shakti. In the case of unmarried prophets and
make his beloved Narendranath accept Kali and avataras, the mother of the respective prophet
become her chosen instrument to teach human- or avatara is considered as the female power
kind. Narendranath had to ultimately surrender or Shakti. For example, the two great incarna-
helplessly to the mahashakti, great power, whom tions of Hinduism, Sri Ramachandra and Sri
Sri Ramakrishna called Kali as discussed more Krishna had respectively their holy consorts,
elaborately later. Narendranath was to confess Sita and Radha as the sustaining female powers.
later: ‘She made a slave of me. Those were Nagarjuna Starting from Buddha down to Sri Rama-
the very words: “a slave of you”. And krishna, we see the power behind the
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa made avatara and the tradition he initi-
me over to Her’ (8.263). ated, coming from a sustaining
Sri Ramanuja, the great philos- female power. Buddha’s trad-
opher-saint and the protagonist ition had his wife Yashodhara at
of Vishishtadvaita, qualified non- the head of the women’s Order
dualism, philosophy and tradition, of nuns that he initiated. In the
had for his spiritual strength Lord Mahayana Buddhist tradition, we
Narayana in infinite and unending see Nagarjuna drawing sustenance
ananta shayana, reclining posture, and power from Prajna Paramita,
with whom he communed day and the female power worshipped in
night. Sri Madhavacharya, the this tradition. The tradition of
image: http://www.anucde.info

great philosopher-saint and prot- Jesus the Christ has Mother Mary
agonist of Dvaita, dualism, had his as the female power or Shakti.
esoteric leaning to Sri Krishna of Sri Chaitanya had his holy con-
Udipi. Even the extreme shunya- sort Vishnupriya as the female
vadin, nihilist, Nagarjuna had as power or Shakti. In the case of
his esoteric source of strength, Sri Ramakrishna and the trad-
Prajna Paramita, the female ition of Ramakrishna Order
Buddhist deity akin to Kali. that he initiated through

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Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda Revisited in the Light of Tantra 59

Swami Vivekananda, Sri Sarada Devi, the holy enough, when I am reminded of the Mother,
consort of Sri Ramakrishna is considered as his I ejaculate, ‘What after all is Rama?’ Brother,
Shakti as well as the the mother of the Order. that is where my fanaticism lies, I tell you. Of
It was Swamiji, who discovered and taught the Ramakrishna, you may aver, my brother, that
he was an Incarnation or whatever else you may
real significance of the advent of Sri Sarada Devi
like but fie on him who has no devotion for the
as the female power, Shakti, behind the Rama- Mother (7. 484–5).
krishna Order, the Ramakrishna tradition, and
the Ramakrishna Movement. His powerful Shakti is what moves the universe—its origin,
words, written to his brother-disciple, Swami sustenance, and final dissolution—all these are
Shivananda, are worth quoting here: the divine play of Shakti. Brahman, the supreme
Reality or Being Absolute, is powerless without
You have not yet understood the wonderful
Shakti. The famous hymn Saundarya-Lahari of
significance of Mother’s life—none of you.
But gradually you will know. Without Shakti Acharya Shankara begins with this memorable
(Power) there is no regeneration for the world. passage: ‘United with Sakti, Siva is endowed with
Why is it that our country is the weakest and the power to create the universe. Otherwise, He
the most backward of all countries?—Because is incapable even of movement. Therefore, who
Shakti is held in dishonour there. Mother has except those endowed with great merits acquired
been born to revive that wonderful Shakti in the past can be fortunate enough to salute or
in India; and making her the nucleus, once praise Thee, Mother Divine, who art the adored
more will Gargis and Maitreyis be born into
of even Hari, Hara and Virinchi?’5
the world. Dear brother, you understand lit-
tle now, but by degrees you will come to know In the Sri Vaishnava tradition of Sri Ramanuja,
Vishnupriya
it all. … Without the grace of Shakti noth-
ing is to be accomplished. What do I find in
America and Europe?—the worship of Shakti,
the worship of Power. Yet they worship Her ig-
norantly through sense-gratification. Imagine,
then, what a lot of good they will achieve who
will worship Her with all purity, in a Sattvika
painting: http://padmanabhdas.files.wordpress.com

spirit, looking upon Her as their mother! I am


coming to understand things clearer every day,
my insight is opening out more and more. …
To me, Mother’s grace is a hundred thousand
times more valuable than Father’s. Mother’s
grace, Mother’s blessings are all paramount to
me. … Please pardon me. I am a little bigoted
there, as regards Mother. If but Mother orders,
her demons can work anything. Brother, before
proceeding to America I wrote to Mother to
bless me. Her blessings came, and at one bound
I cleared the ocean. There, you see. In this ter-
rible winter I am lecturing from place to place
and fighting against odds, so that funds may be
collected for Mother’s Math. … Brother, often

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60 Prabuddha Bharata

it is emphatically stated that it is only through the and relative becoming, formless and with form,
intervention of Sri Devi, the Shakti of Lord Nara- beyond all and within all! Swami Tapasyananda
yana that grace descends on the jiva, the individual used to say that Sri Ramakrishna replaced the
soul. This concept is very similar to the Catholic truth-falsity paradigm of Shankara with the ni-
Christian tradition wherein Mother Mary is re- tya-lila paradigm.8
garded as an inevitable intervener between God Sri Ramakrishna’s desperation in trying to per-
and man for God’s benign grace to fall on man. suade his beloved Naren to accept Kali is a land-
Swamiji calls a divine incarnation, a wave in mark in Ramakrishna-Vivekananda relationship
the ocean of Shakti. In his famous hymn on Sri as it is an inevitable necessity for Swami Viveka-
Ramakrishna—where he does not mention Sri nanda to engage himself for the good of the
Ramakrishna’s name, but just calls him the guru- world. For the good of the world, for the emanci-
Shakti—he says: ‘I surrender myself to my Guru, pation of the individual soul in bondage, Naren-
the physician for the malady of Samsara (relative dra was pulled out of his absorption in samadhi in
existence) who is, as it were, a wave rising in the the transcendental realm, what Sri Ramakrishna
ocean of Shakti (Power).’6 called the home of the indivisible, where not even
a trace of duality exists. Unless Narendra accepted
Naren, the Rishi of the Absolute Plane, Kali, the empress of the relative existence called
Accepts Kali the universe, he would definitely not feel inclined
All these show one thing: That there is a female to do good to the world, which his Advaitic ab-
power, a female principle guiding and regulating sorption in the realm of indivisible Existence-
all beings in the phenomenal world that is termed Knowledge-Bliss Absolute would reject as unreal!
maya in Vedanta, that is the power of Brahman or Hence, the great eagerness of Sri Ramakrishna,
brahma-shakti—which as Sri Ramakrishna points bordering on mad desperation, to make his Naren
out so emphatically—is identical with Brahman: accept Kali as the Shakti of Brahman.
‘Brahman and Sakti are identical. If you accept the When Naren wanted to be immersed in nir-
one, you must accept the other. It is like fire and vikalpa samadhi, only coming down now and
its power to burn. If you see the fire, you must rec- then for some food, Sri Ramakrishna rebuked
ognize its power to burn also. You cannot think of him: ‘You are a very small-minded person.
fire without its power to burn, nor can you think There is a state higher even that. “All that exists
of the power to burn without fire.’7 are Thou”—it is you who sing that song.’9 Look
Brahman and Shakti are identical, insepar- at this strange lila, the divine play between Sri
able, as fire and its burning power, snake and its Ramakrishna and Naren: By Sri Ramakrishna’s
wriggling motion, milk and its whiteness. While own admission, he brought Naren down from
Brahman is transcendental and beyond space- the transcendental realm of the Infinite and the
time-causation, incomprehensible to thought Absolute, a realm of Pure Being, to the relative
and speech, unreachable by the senses, brahma- world of becoming, of space-time-causation.
shakti interpenetrates and envelops all the rela- Having accomplished this next to impossible
tive universe of creation, while all the time it is task of dragging Naren down by the magnetism
transcendental being identical with Brahman. of his pure and divine love, he was desperately
In this sense, Shakti is transcendental and im- restless to position Naren—the Brahman-in-
manent, absolute and relative, absolute Being tuiting rishi merged in the bliss of nirvikalpa

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Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda Revisited in the Light of Tantra 61

samadhi in the transcendental realm—in the


realm of becoming wherein he would, nonethe-
less, swim in the same bliss, this time of realising
the same transcendent Brahman as immanent
in all beings and his divine love would issue out
in torrents in the form of selfless service to all
beings seen directly as veritable embodiments of
the same Brahman realised in the transcendental
plane! This mystical play of nara and narayana,
of man and God, of an Arjuna and a Sri Krishna,
of a Hanuman and a Sri Ramachandra, of Swami
Vivekananda and Sri Ramakrishna, is the divine
play of the Divine Mother Kali as brahma-shakti.

The Brahmo Naren


Beseeching Lord’s Mercy
Although Naren had come down from the tran-
scendental realm unawares by the divine will
of Sri Ramakrishna, under the influence of the
Brahmo Samaj, he thought of himself as a despic-
able creature beseeching the mercy of the king of
Swami Tapasyananda (1904–91)
kings, his beloved supreme Lord. Recall one of his
earliest songs sung before Sri Ramakrishna: where Ashtavakra Samhita. Naren, initially reluctant,
he sang: ‘Thou art the Lord of all the worlds, and read this greatest of Advaita texts in the divine
I but a beggar here’ (508). Where did all his non- presence of his master till what he read went so
dual realisation in the transcendental realm of deep into him as to transform him into a para-
indivisible Existence-Knowledge-Bliss-Absolute gon of Advaitists in modern times, so much so,
vanish? Whatever happened to his Vedantic ex- that later from the world pulpit, this Vedanta
hortation of relying upon the Atman and denun- kesari, lion of Vedanta roared his immortal Ad-
ciation of all dualistic superstitions? Where did it vaitic roar: ‘Never forget the glory of human
all go? How did he feel himself as a helpless des- nature. … Christs and Buddhas are but waves
titute and a beggar crying to the Lord for mercy? on the boundless ocean which I am.’10 Saying
That is the divine play of Sri Ramakrishna who is this, he thumped his chest with great force!
fond of playing his divine game! This done, Sri Ramakrishna is at his next game
of making this Advaitin Naren accept Kali as
Naren Turned an Advaitin by brahma-shakti and be guided to do her dictates
Sri Ramakrishna for the rest of his life!
In spite of resistance from Naren, Sri Rama-
krishna tries to put into his head the loftiest Naren Accepts Sri Ramakrishna as the
ideas of Advaita by persuading him lovingly to Embodiment of Kali, Brahma-Shakti
read to him the magnum opus of Advaita, the The next and last of the acts in this divine play,

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62 Prabuddha Bharata

was to make Naren realise his own master, Sri ‘How I used to hate Kali!’ he said, referring
Ramakrishna, as the incarnation of Kali. This he to his own days of doubts in accepting the Kali
perhaps could not accomplish during his life- ideal, ‘And all Her ways! That was the ground
time, but he had to wait much later, till Naren of my six years’ fight—that I would not accept
Her. But I had to accept Her at last! Rama-
surrendered to him totally and completely.
krishna Paramahamsa dedicated me to Her,
Swami Vivekananda himself confessed later and now I believe that She guides me in every-
that Sri Ramakrishna was the incarnation of thing I do, and does with me what She will. …
Kali and that the thing that made him accept Yet I fought so long! I loved him, you see, and
Kali would be a secret that would die with him. that was what held me. I saw his marvellous
This part of the divine play between nara-rishi purity. … I felt his wonderful love. … His great-
Swamiji and narayana Sri Ramakrishna is too ness had not dawned on me then. All that came
profound and too mysterious—perhaps ‘mys- afterwards when I had given in. At that time I
thought him a brain-sick baby, always seeing
tical’ is the word—for human comprehension.
visions and the rest. I hated it. And then I, too,
Reverential reflection and contemplation of had to accept Her!
this aspect of the play is very much part of the
No, the thing that made me do it is a secret
Reflections on Tantra, the main theme of the
that will die with me. I had great misfortunes at
present volume. the time. … It was an opportunity. … She made a
slave of me. Those were the very words: “a slave
Swami Vivekananda’s Substantiation of
of you”. And Ramakrishna Paramahamsa made
this Divine Play me over to Her’ (8.263).
To substantiate that this version of the nara- Swami Vivekananda’s experience at Kshir-
narayana lila is not entirely the author’s im- Bhavani in Kashmir is well known. The Divine
agination or fanciful construction, but has been Mother spoke to him in a clear voice: ‘Do you
culled and constructed cogently from the avail- protect Me? Or do I protect you?’11
able authentic records scattered throughout the Interestingly, upon hearing about this inci-
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature, we quote dent, the ever-inquisitive disciple, Sharat Chan-
some relevant utterances of Swamiji: dra Chakravarty, asked Swamiji: ‘“Sir, you used
The future, you say, will call Ramakrishna to say that Divine Voices are the echo of our
Paramahamsa an Incarnation of Kali? Yes, I inward thoughts and feelings.” Swamiji gravely
think there’s no doubt that She worked up the said, “Whether it be internal or external, if you
body of Ramakrishna for Her own ends. … actually hear with your ears such a disembodied
You see, I cannot but believe that there is voice, as I have done, can you deny it and call it
somewhere a great Power that thinks of Herself false? Divine Voices are actually heard, just as
as feminine, and called Kali and Mother. … And you and I are talking.”’12 The significance of this
I believe in Brahman too. … But is it not al- experience could be somewhat understood when
ways like that? Is it not the multitude of cells read in his own words quoted earlier: ‘I cannot
in the body that make up the personality, the
but believe that there is somewhere a great Power
many brain-centres, not the one, that produce
consciousness? … Unity in complexity! Just so! that thinks of Herself as feminine, and called
And why should it be different with Brahman? Kali and Mother.’
It is Brahman. It is the One. And yet—and Now the question worthy of deep reflection:
yet—it is the gods too! (8.264). Swami Vivekananda’s staunchest commitment

52 PB January 2016
Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda Revisited in the Light of Tantra 63

to Advaita which he believed will be the ‘future the chosen ideal on the lotus of their hearts
religion of thinking humanity’ (8.348) and his in a purely tantric fashion! Monks participat-
equally staunch attitude of surrender to what he ing in the worship of the Divine Mother, sing-
called Kali and what his master Sri Ramakrishna ing devotional songs of the divine glory of the
revealed to him—are these two contradictory? Mother, juxtaposing it with the study of Ved-
Was Swami Vivekananda displaying two con- anta scriptures—some of them engrossed in the
tradictory traits in him, one universal, Advaita, study of deeply Advaitic texts and commen-
another personal and esoteric, surrender to Kali? taries thereon—are common occurrences and no
Our aim in stating this is to rouse in the read- monk feels uneasy with this. Harmonising Ved-
ers of this special issue anta with tantra result-
of Prabuddha Bharata, ing in a highly balanced
devoted to the theme, spiritual sadhana that
Reflections on Tantra, integrates spiritual
deep reflection on this life with the so-called
question in the light of worldly life to make
the divine play between all life one continuum
nara and narayana, of spiritual sadhana is
Swami Vivekananda one of the greatest gifts
and Sri Ramakrishna as of the Ramakrishna
portrayed earlier. This Order coming from
reflection would reveal the spiritual giants be-
and uncover the secrets ginning from persons
of the strange and eso- like Sri Sarada Devi,
teric, the profound and Swami Vivekananda,
mysterious aspects of and Swami Brahma-
tantra itself, as demon- nanda and the world is
strated and enacted in yet to understand the
the present age, before profundity of this con-
our very ways, the mod- tribution. We quote
erns of the twentieth below Sister Nivedita’s
and twenty-first century immortal words in her
Kshir-Bhavani Temple in Kashmir
with our vaunted intel- introduction to Swami
lectuality and rationality. Vivekananda’s Complete Works which has this
Vedanta-tantra integration as the philosophical
Ramakrishna Order’s Tradition of basis although not spelt out explicitly:
Kali worship vis-à-vis the Divine Play
No distinction, henceforth, between sacred and
It is very interesting to note that in the divine secular. To labour is to pray. To conquer is to
tradition of the Ramakrishna Order, Vedanta renounce. Life is itself religion. To have and to
and tantra run parallel. After receiving the highly hold is as stern a trust as to quit and to avoid.
Advaitic sannyasa mantras, the monks would This is the realisation which makes Viveka-
be seen quietly doing japa and meditating on nanda the great preacher of Karma, not as

PB January 2016 53
64 Prabuddha Bharata

divorced from, but as expressing Jnana and image of Sri Ramakrishna himself in the temple,
Bhakti. To him, the workshop, the study, the substantiating Swami Vivekananda’s statement
farmyard, and the field are as true and fit scenes quoted earlier which bears repetition given its
for the meeting of God with man as the cell of profound mystic significance: ‘The future, you
the monk or the door of the temple. To him,
say, will call Ramakrishna Paramahamsa an In-
there is no difference between service of man
and worship of God, between manliness and carnation of Kali? Yes, I think there’s no doubt
faith, between true righteousness and spiritual- that She worked up the body of Ramakrishna for
ity. All his words, from one point of view, read Her own ends.’
as a commentary upon this central conviction. Before Swami Vivekananda passed away, he
‘Art, science, and religion’, he said once, ‘are but expressed a desire to worship Kali at Belur Math.
three different ways of expressing a single truth. Although this wish could not be actualised dur-
But in order to understand this we must have ing his lifetime, Kali worship was performed at
the theory of Advaita’ (1.xv–xvi). the Math after Swamiji passed away.
The Kali worship tradition in the Rama- Both Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi and Sri
krishna Order substantiates our thesis pres- Ramakrishna used to look upon each other as
ented in earlier sections. Ramakrishna Math, the embodiment of Kali. This is a strange re-
Belur Math, being the authentic keeper of the lationship between a divine husband and his
Ramakrishna tradition as handed over by the divine consort. ‘One day while Sarada was mas-
direct disciples including Sri Sarada Devi, Swami saging the Master’s feet, she asked him, “How
Vivekananda, Swami Brahmananda, Swami do you look upon me?” The Master replied:
Shiva­nanda, and all the other saints and gurus “The same Mother who is in the temple, the
up to the present time, the Belur Math tradition same Mother who gave birth to this body and is
is being taken as the model herein. now living in the nahabat, that same Mother is
The whole night worship of Kali or Shakti now rubbing my feet. Truly, I always see you as
as dasha-mahavidyas, ten aspects of maha-maya a form of the blissful Divine Mother.”’13 Again,
or mahavidya, is the tradition at Belur Math on when Sri Ramakrishna passed away in maha-
the birth-tithis of Swami Vivekananda and Sri samadhi, Holy Mother cried out: ‘Oh Mother
Ramakrishna respectively. Interestingly, albeit Kali, where have you gone?’14 This perhaps is
believing that the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi the key to understanding Swami Vivekananda’s
is the veritable embodiment of Kali or Shakti unparalleled, incomparable, matchless, amazing
as dasha-mahavidyas, Kali worship is not per- devotion to Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, equal-
formed in the night of her birth-tithi. This wor- ling or even surpassing his unflinching devotion
ship of Kali or Shakti as dasha-mahavidya is for his own guru Sri Ramakrishna.
performed not before the public as other public These mystical traditions that have been
programmes are held throughout the day, but handed over from generation to generation right
it is performed in the night in the presence of from the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi and the
monks alone, showing its esotericism and deep direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna starting from
mystical significance. More interestingly, the Swami Vivekananda, give us a clue as to how
worship of Kali and Shakti as mahamaya is held Divine Mother Kali is the female power, the
not with a separate image of Kali or other forms ‘feminine force’ that the tantra speaks of, the
of mahamaya, but these worships are done in the brahma-shakti, who is the central power, that

54 PB January 2016
Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda Revisited in the Light of Tantra 65

energises the Ramakrishna Order, empowers its Nikhilananda (Chennai: Ramakrishna Math,
monks and devotees, regulates, controls, and 2002), 134.
moves it in the right direction. Hence, Swamiji 4. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,
said, as quoted earlier: ‘I cannot but believe that 9 vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989;
9, 1997), 8.522–3.
there is somewhere a great Power that thinks of 5. Saundarya Laharī of Śrī Śaṅkarācārya, trans.
Herself as feminine, and called Kali and Mother.’ Swami Tapasyananda (Madras: Ramakrishna
And again: ‘Ramakrishna Paramahamsa dedi- Math, 1987), 27.
cated me to Her, and now I believe that She 6. Complete Works, 8.174.
7. Gospel, 134.
guides me in everything I do, and does with me 8. See Swami Atmapriyananda, ‘Understanding
what She will. … She made a slave of me. Those Bhāvamukha: Sri Ramakrishna’s Unique State
were the very words: “a slave of you”. And Rama- of Consciousness’, Prabuddha Bharata, 116/1
krishna Paramahamsa made me over to Her.’ (January 2011), 37–43.
That is Swami Vivekananda, the great Ved- 9. Gospel, 935–6.
10. Complete Works, 7.78.
antin, the Advaitin, and the rationalist speak- 11. Life, 2.382.
ing! Well it is therefore that tantra carries with 12. Complete Works, 7.131.
it the ‘esotericism’ tag and because it is esoteric, 13. Swami Saradananda, Sri Ramakrishna and His
it is mystical, hence appearing mysterious. It Divine Play, trans. Swami Chetanananda (St
Louis: Vedanta Society of St Louis, 2003), 349.
is therefore very profound and powerful. It is
14. Brahmachari Akshayachaitanya, The Compas-
well known how the spiritual giants like Swamis sionate Mother, trans. Swami Tanmayananda,
Vivekananda and Brahmananda were turned ed. Swami Shuddhidananda (Kolkata: Advaita
into little children, trembling with emotion, Ashrama, 2009), 82.
swayed and swept away by ecstatic joy in the Oil Painting of Sri Sarada Devi
Used Earlier For Worship at Jayrambati
presence of the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi.
The significance of this small yet profound in-
cident is that they could actually see the Divine
Mother Kali, mahamaya, appearing before them
in human form as Sri Sarada Devi.
This account is a sketchy and highly incom-
plete description derived by revisiting Sri Rama-
krishna and Swami Vivekananda in the light of
tantra—an attempt to reverentially reflect on their
lives and teachings, particularly the esoteric and
mystical aspects, which are less studied and much
less understood by us, the professed devotees and
followers of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. P
References
1. Katha Upanishad, 2.3.18.
2. His Eastern and Western Disciples, The Life of
Swami Vivekananda, 2 vols (Kolkata: Advaita
Ashrama, 2008), 2.572.
3. M., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans. Swami

PB January 2016 55

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