Sri  Ramakrishna

In India, since time olders Sri Ramakrishna did not prescribe the hard path of total renunciation. He wanted then to discharge their obligations to their families. Their renunciation was to be mental. But to the young men destined to be monks he pointed out the steep path of renunciation, both external and internal. They must take the vow of absolute continence and eschew all thought of greed and lust. By the practice of continence, aspirants develop a subtle nerve through which they understand the deeper mysteries of God. For them self-control is final, imperative and absolute. The Sannyasis are teachers of men, and their lives should be totally free from blemish. They must not even look at a picture, which may awaken their animal passions. The Master selected his future monks from young men untouched by “woman and gold” and fit enough to be cast in his spiritual mould. When teaching them the path of renunciation and discrimination, he would not allow the householders to be anywhere near them. The monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna are his apostles who represented him and carried his message throughout the world. They lived the life of complete renunciation and selfless service – the ideal for which Sri Ramakrishna stood for. When the Great Light disappeared, the lamps that had been kindled by it began to shed luster in innumerable places. Indeed each monastic disciple of the Master became a centre of wide influence and was instrumented in transforming hundreds of lives. Each one of them was a gigantic spiritual personality – superb in character, unique in achievement, and an asset to humanity. When considers this, one wonders how so many almost superhuman characters could cluster together at one and the same time. Truly Sri Ramakrishna was a great jeweler, who could collect so many jewels and leave them as a legacy to the world.

Swami  Yogananda  (1861 - 1899)

Ramkrishna Though counted among the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna and guided by him, Swami Yogananda was the first initiated disciple of Sri Sarada Devi, popularly known as the ‘Holy Mother.’ Like the Mother whom he served meticulously with matchless devotion, his life was very unobtrusive for all outward appearances but very deep in inner mystic experiences, of which he sometimes gave a hint or two. Born in 1861 in an orthodox Brahmin family which was in indigent circumstances but had once been aristocratic and rich, Yogindra – the premonastic name of the Swami – was by nature indrawn, gentle and shy. The desire to pluck a nice flower in the Dakshineswar garden brought him face to face with Sri Ramakrishna whom Yogin mistook for a gardener working there! He got the flower all right, but in the process, himself became a ‘flower plant’ to be tended by a great gardener of lives.

Though married, the world could never drag his mind down to worldliness. Just as pure gold cannot be shaped into ornaments but has got to be alloyed with a small quantity of other metals, Sri Ramakrishna had to ‘alloy’ him with a bit of harshness to counter his too gentle a personality that could not last in this mundane world. But the disciple was not a goody-goody simpleton. He could exercise his highly critical discernment even against his own guru or leader (Swami Vivekananda) when he thought it necessary. He was a good organizer. He had successfully attracted and inspired many a young man to the monastic life. He was extraordinarily devoted to the Holy Mother whom he served till the last day of his life. His congenitally frail constitution could not stand the rigours he chose to impose upon himself resulting in a rather premature death on March 28, 1899.