In his religiosity, Ramakrishna
(1836-1885), a Hindu mystic and priest at a temple of the goddess Kali, the
goddess of death, drew on the Bhakti (devotee), (Advaita) Vedanta, and Tantra
aspects of Hinduism, as well as on Islam and Christianity to a much lesser
extent, toward his goal of realizing God, which can also be put in terms of
achieving self-knowledge of one’s true nature (atman). In the Bhavagad-Gita,
Arjuna demands to see the god Krishna as he really is, but Krishna has to hold himself
back, showing himself in (human) bodily form, albeit with a myriad of heads. Even
a distended form such as this is too much for Arjuna. Moreover, ignorance
cannot take in reality or awareness itself without it being adorned in
anthropomorphic (i.e., having human characteristics) ornaments that Hume
discusses in his Natural History of Religion. Krishna’s promise in the
Gita is relevant, in “that, through His Maya, He will assume a human body and
manifest His powers whenever religion declines, and will help [people] to
obtain peace.”[1] It
is through illusion that a deity assumes the likeness of a human form because
seeing a deity’s essence in Brahman is simply too much for mere mortals.
The full essay is at "Hindu Mysticism: Ramakrishna."
1. Swami Saradananda, Sri Ramakrishna: The Great Master, Jagadananda, trans. (Madras, IN: Sri Ramakrishna Math Mylapore, 1952), p. 16.
