SRI RAMAKRISHNA’S UNIVERSAL MESSAGE OF GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS
(Excerpt from a talk given by Swami Adiswarananda at the Special
Service on the occasion of the Birthday of Sri Ramakrishna,
February 25, 2007)
The central theme of Sri Ramakrishna’s
message is God-consciousness. God-consciousness is the essence
of all teachings of all religions. It is the goal of all study
of scriptures, philosophical speculation, prayer and
contemplation, sacraments and rituals, charity and austerity,
and pilgrimage to holy places. To Sri Ramakrishna, the message
of all scriptures, of all religions, is that God alone is real
and all else is illusory. One must grasp this message and then
plunge into oneself for the realization of Truth. The essence of
the Bhagavad Gita is given in Sri Ramakrishna’s inimitable
words: “What is the significance of the Gita? It is what you
find by repeating the word ten times. It is then reversed into ‘tagi,’
which means a person who has renounced everything for God. And
the lesson of the Gita is: “O man, renounce everything and seek
God alone.’” The purpose of all spiritual practices, Sri
Ramakrishna indicated, is to become sincere. It is “to make our
thought, word, and action the same.” While God-consciousness,
the goal of religion, remains the same for all ages, creeds and
dogmas, denominations and paths vary, as they must, to suit the
diverse tastes of different seekers. Sri Ramakrishna gives us
the essence of spiritual quest: “With sincerity and earnestness
one can realize God through all religions. The Vaishnava will
realize God, and so will the Saktas, the Vedantists, and the
Brahmos. The Mussalmans and Christians will realize Him too. All
will certainly realize God if they are earnest and sincere.”
-- Swami Adiswarananda
