Sri Ramakrishna's life is the most significant event in modern history. His message that all religions lead to the same Godhead is the only wisdom that can lead our world torn by religious conflicts towards a global peace and religious harmony. While Christ, Buddha or Muhammad established their own religions, Sri Ramakrishna reaffirmed people's faith not in the fundamental but the universal dimensions of these religions by his own spiritual Sadhana through all these paths. And this restoration of faith in the religions has brought a religious revival all over the world in spite of seventy years of Godless Communism and amoral materialism.
Sri Ramakrishna's message of the service to human beings on veritable embodiments of Gods, especially to God the poor (Daridra-Narayan), God the sick (Rogi-Narayan), God the seeker of knowledge (Vidyarthi-Narayan), God the fallen (Papi-Narayan) and God the offlicted (Topi-Narayan) irrespective of caste, creed and religion - is the basis of the new society and culture based on Vedantic humanism. His message of respecting and elevating women to living Goddesses is bringing a whole new generation of women leaders, both secular and spiritual, in India and abroad. Finally, Sri Ramakrishna's universal message of awakening man's essential divinity as the final goal of human life is slowly ushering a spiritual culture and spiritual civilization in today's world of consumeristic pride, hedonistic arrogance, sensate madness and fundamentalist atrocities.
We have chosen thirty-six major incidents from Sri Ramakrishna's life and twelve parables narrated by him and tried to project them through modest paintings. Each painting is supported by a short description and interpretation of the event. The homage of world thinkers is also included.
Documents and materials for the description of these painting have mostly been taken from Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master (Third Edition) by Swami Saradananda, a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna; 'Sri Sri Ramakrishna Punthi' (Bengali, 9th edition) by Akshay Kumar Sen, a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna; Ramakrishna as we saw Him' by Swami Chetanananda of Vedanta Centre, St. Louis, U.S.A.; The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' by M (Mahendranath Gupta) and Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, (Udbodhan, 1986). Some other books also have been consulted.
A Swami of our Ashrama assisted by Sri Ramakrishna Rao, an artist of Hyderabad, did these simple paintings. Sri Mukesh Rathod of Rajkot did the computer designing. Sri Sachin Gupta and Sri C.M. Malik of Delhi, Sri Dilip Choksi, Dr. & Mrs. Yogesh Chandarana of Mumbai, Sri Bhogilal Patel and Dr. Rashmi Shah of Gujarat Helped us in various ways to bring out the book. Swami Sarvasthananda, Br. Shesharaja and Br. Tamal assisted in compiling the text and writing, typing and printing of the book. We are grateful to all of them.
Our deepest gratitude and heartfelt Pranams go to Revered Swami Ranganathanandaji Maharaj, President, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, who in spite of his ill health, saw the paintings and blessed the project with a foreword.
We will fell happy if the book can arouse even a little interest in the historic life and epoch-making message of Sri Ramakrishna.
Sr. No. | Paintings | Page No. |
1 | Sri Ramakrishna's father, Sri Kshudiram, gets a divine dream of his future son as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. | 9 |
2 | Gadadhar, the divine child in his birthplace Kamarpukar | 11 |
3 | Child Gadai plays with Hanumanas-the black-faced monkeys | 13 |
4 | Sri Ramakrishna's first divine ecstasy-samadhi at the age of six. | 15 |
5 | Boy Gadadhar's total absorption in Shiva on Shivaratri festival | 17 |
6 | The child Ramakrishna breaks caste restriction by accepting food from a blacksmith mother. | 19 |
7 | The poor villager Chinu Shankhari first worshipped Gadadhar as an incarnation of God. | 21 |
8 | Sri Ramakrishna's intense yearning brings him the vision of Kali. | 23 |
9 | Sri Ramakrishna sees a living and beloved god in the stone image of Krishna. | 25 |
10 | Sri Ramakrishna practices tantric Sadhana under the guidance of Bhairavi Brahmani. | 27 |
11 | With Sri Ramakrishna's love the stone image of child Rama becomes living. | 29 |
12 | Sri Ramakrishna practises Nirakara Sadhana under Tota Puri | 31 |
13 | Sri Ramakrishna practises Sufi Islam Sadhana under Govinda Ray. | 33 |
14 | Sri Ramakrishna's vision of Mother Sita and Hanumana, the servant of Rama. | 35 |
15 | Through Sri Radha's grace Sri Ramakrishna gets the vision of Sri Krishna. | 37 |
16 | Sri Ramakrishna's vision of child Jesus in the lap of Mary - the Motherhood of God. | 39 |
17 | Sri Ramakrishna's vision of Jesus, the Son of God | 41 |
18 | Sri Ramakrishna's vision of Shiva in te cremation ground of golden Kashi | 43 |
19 | Sri Ramakrishna's vision of Sri Chaitanya and Sri Nityananda at Navadwip | 45 |
20 | Sri Ramakrishna realizes Lord Buddha as an incarnation of God | 47 |
21 | Sri Ramakrishna sees God in human beings: Sri Krishna in an English boy. | 49 |
22 | Sri Ramakrishna gets the divine command to remain in the realm of both the Absolute and the Relative. | 51 |
23 | Sri Ramakrishna asks rich Mathur to serve the poor, the living Gods, at Vaidyanath. | 53 |
24 | Sri Ramakrishna brings divine bliss to the common masses | 55 |
25 | Sri Ramakrishna worships his young wife, Sri Sarada Devi as the Divine Mother. | 57 |
26 | Sri Ramakrishna sees the Divine Mother Kali and his own mother, in his wife Sri Sarada Devi. | 59 |
27 | Sri Ramakrishna's vision of Nara-Narayana in Narendranath. | 61 |
29 | Sri Ramakrishna prophesies to Keshab Sen that his message would travel far and wide. | 65 |
30 | At Girish's theatre Sri Ramakrishna blesses sixteen actresses rejected as fallen by the society. | 67 |
31 | Sri Ramakrishna's grace for the neglected ones: Rasik - sweeper of Dakshineswar | 69 |
32 | Sri Ramakrishna's grace on the ruffian Manmatha in the house of Yogin-ma. | 71 |
33 | Sri Ramakrishna reveals himself as a mighty incarnation power before Gauri Pundit and Vaishnav Dharan at Dakshineswar. | 73 |
34 | Sri Ramakrishna's self revelation as divine incarnation on 1st January, 1886 | 75 |
35 | Sri Ramakrishna distributes ochre cloth and rosary among his young disciples. | 77 |
36 | Sri Ramakrishna reveals himself to Naren as an incarnation of Sri Rama and Sri Krishna. | 79 |
37 | Pictorial Parables of Sri Ramakrishna - 1 | 80 |
38 | Pictorial Parables of Sri Ramakrishna - 2 | 81 |
39 | Pictorial Parables of Sri Ramakrishna - 3 | 82 |
40 | Pictorial Parables of Sri Ramakrishna - 4 | 83 |
41 | World Thinkers on Sri Ramakrishna - 1 | 84 |
42 | World Thinkers on Sri Ramakrishna - 2 | 85 |
43 | Sri Ma Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda on Sri Ramakrishna | 86 |
Sri Ramakrishna's life is the most significant event in modern history. His message that all religions lead to the same Godhead is the only wisdom that can lead our world torn by religious conflicts towards a global peace and religious harmony. While Christ, Buddha or Muhammad established their own religions, Sri Ramakrishna reaffirmed people's faith not in the fundamental but the universal dimensions of these religions by his own spiritual Sadhana through all these paths. And this restoration of faith in the religions has brought a religious revival all over the world in spite of seventy years of Godless Communism and amoral materialism.
Sri Ramakrishna's message of the service to human beings on veritable embodiments of Gods, especially to God the poor (Daridra-Narayan), God the sick (Rogi-Narayan), God the seeker of knowledge (Vidyarthi-Narayan), God the fallen (Papi-Narayan) and God the offlicted (Topi-Narayan) irrespective of caste, creed and religion - is the basis of the new society and culture based on Vedantic humanism. His message of respecting and elevating women to living Goddesses is bringing a whole new generation of women leaders, both secular and spiritual, in India and abroad. Finally, Sri Ramakrishna's universal message of awakening man's essential divinity as the final goal of human life is slowly ushering a spiritual culture and spiritual civilization in today's world of consumeristic pride, hedonistic arrogance, sensate madness and fundamentalist atrocities.
We have chosen thirty-six major incidents from Sri Ramakrishna's life and twelve parables narrated by him and tried to project them through modest paintings. Each painting is supported by a short description and interpretation of the event. The homage of world thinkers is also included.
Documents and materials for the description of these painting have mostly been taken from Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master (Third Edition) by Swami Saradananda, a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna; 'Sri Sri Ramakrishna Punthi' (Bengali, 9th edition) by Akshay Kumar Sen, a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna; Ramakrishna as we saw Him' by Swami Chetanananda of Vedanta Centre, St. Louis, U.S.A.; The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' by M (Mahendranath Gupta) and Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, (Udbodhan, 1986). Some other books also have been consulted.
A Swami of our Ashrama assisted by Sri Ramakrishna Rao, an artist of Hyderabad, did these simple paintings. Sri Mukesh Rathod of Rajkot did the computer designing. Sri Sachin Gupta and Sri C.M. Malik of Delhi, Sri Dilip Choksi, Dr. & Mrs. Yogesh Chandarana of Mumbai, Sri Bhogilal Patel and Dr. Rashmi Shah of Gujarat Helped us in various ways to bring out the book. Swami Sarvasthananda, Br. Shesharaja and Br. Tamal assisted in compiling the text and writing, typing and printing of the book. We are grateful to all of them.
Our deepest gratitude and heartfelt Pranams go to Revered Swami Ranganathanandaji Maharaj, President, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, who in spite of his ill health, saw the paintings and blessed the project with a foreword.
We will fell happy if the book can arouse even a little interest in the historic life and epoch-making message of Sri Ramakrishna.
Sr. No. | Paintings | Page No. |
1 | Sri Ramakrishna's father, Sri Kshudiram, gets a divine dream of his future son as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. | 9 |
2 | Gadadhar, the divine child in his birthplace Kamarpukar | 11 |
3 | Child Gadai plays with Hanumanas-the black-faced monkeys | 13 |
4 | Sri Ramakrishna's first divine ecstasy-samadhi at the age of six. | 15 |
5 | Boy Gadadhar's total absorption in Shiva on Shivaratri festival | 17 |
6 | The child Ramakrishna breaks caste restriction by accepting food from a blacksmith mother. | 19 |
7 | The poor villager Chinu Shankhari first worshipped Gadadhar as an incarnation of God. | 21 |
8 | Sri Ramakrishna's intense yearning brings him the vision of Kali. | 23 |
9 | Sri Ramakrishna sees a living and beloved god in the stone image of Krishna. | 25 |
10 | Sri Ramakrishna practices tantric Sadhana under the guidance of Bhairavi Brahmani. | 27 |
11 | With Sri Ramakrishna's love the stone image of child Rama becomes living. | 29 |
12 | Sri Ramakrishna practises Nirakara Sadhana under Tota Puri | 31 |
13 | Sri Ramakrishna practises Sufi Islam Sadhana under Govinda Ray. | 33 |
14 | Sri Ramakrishna's vision of Mother Sita and Hanumana, the servant of Rama. | 35 |
15 | Through Sri Radha's grace Sri Ramakrishna gets the vision of Sri Krishna. | 37 |
16 | Sri Ramakrishna's vision of child Jesus in the lap of Mary - the Motherhood of God. | 39 |
17 | Sri Ramakrishna's vision of Jesus, the Son of God | 41 |
18 | Sri Ramakrishna's vision of Shiva in te cremation ground of golden Kashi | 43 |
19 | Sri Ramakrishna's vision of Sri Chaitanya and Sri Nityananda at Navadwip | 45 |
20 | Sri Ramakrishna realizes Lord Buddha as an incarnation of God | 47 |
21 | Sri Ramakrishna sees God in human beings: Sri Krishna in an English boy. | 49 |
22 | Sri Ramakrishna gets the divine command to remain in the realm of both the Absolute and the Relative. | 51 |
23 | Sri Ramakrishna asks rich Mathur to serve the poor, the living Gods, at Vaidyanath. | 53 |
24 | Sri Ramakrishna brings divine bliss to the common masses | 55 |
25 | Sri Ramakrishna worships his young wife, Sri Sarada Devi as the Divine Mother. | 57 |
26 | Sri Ramakrishna sees the Divine Mother Kali and his own mother, in his wife Sri Sarada Devi. | 59 |
27 | Sri Ramakrishna's vision of Nara-Narayana in Narendranath. | 61 |
29 | Sri Ramakrishna prophesies to Keshab Sen that his message would travel far and wide. | 65 |
30 | At Girish's theatre Sri Ramakrishna blesses sixteen actresses rejected as fallen by the society. | 67 |
31 | Sri Ramakrishna's grace for the neglected ones: Rasik - sweeper of Dakshineswar | 69 |
32 | Sri Ramakrishna's grace on the ruffian Manmatha in the house of Yogin-ma. | 71 |
33 | Sri Ramakrishna reveals himself as a mighty incarnation power before Gauri Pundit and Vaishnav Dharan at Dakshineswar. | 73 |
34 | Sri Ramakrishna's self revelation as divine incarnation on 1st January, 1886 | 75 |
35 | Sri Ramakrishna distributes ochre cloth and rosary among his young disciples. | 77 |
36 | Sri Ramakrishna reveals himself to Naren as an incarnation of Sri Rama and Sri Krishna. | 79 |
37 | Pictorial Parables of Sri Ramakrishna - 1 | 80 |
38 | Pictorial Parables of Sri Ramakrishna - 2 | 81 |
39 | Pictorial Parables of Sri Ramakrishna - 3 | 82 |
40 | Pictorial Parables of Sri Ramakrishna - 4 | 83 |
41 | World Thinkers on Sri Ramakrishna - 1 | 84 |
42 | World Thinkers on Sri Ramakrishna - 2 | 85 |
43 | Sri Ma Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda on Sri Ramakrishna | 86 |