Uniqueness of the Ramakrishna Incarnation and Other Essyas. By Swami Bhuteshananda. Edited and Translated by Swami Vimohananda.
October 2019
Published by Advaita Ashrama, 5, Dehi Entally Road, Kolkata-700 014. Email:. mail@advaitaashrama.org; 2018, Hard cover, pp.520.Rs.300.
The Vedanta Kesari
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Book Reviews
his brilliant volume contains the writings and speeches of Swami Bhuteshananda, the twelfth President of the Ramakrishna Order, who was a great sannyasi, thinker, and speaker. As the title suggests, it brings out the special features of Sri Ramakrishna which makes him so different and so contemporary. The first part of the book consists of ten essays delivered at various times in different parts of the country. Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings, his words as well as his deeds are so profound that we need insightful interpretations in order to fully internalise, or even attempt to internalise, their profundities. There is the danger reading and understanding the words of Sri Ramakrishna or the Holy Mother in a very superficial manner because the language they use is so simple and down-to-earth. So what was the message that Sri Ramakrishna gave and Swami Vivekananda interpreted and made known to the whole world? Take for example the idea of improving oneself, which sounds commonplace. It sounds far easier to comprehend than complex passages from most religious texts. Swami Vivekananda interprets this for us: stop being selfish, he says. This one correction will set our world aright and we can then proceed to do our bit. Now here comes the crunch - it requires not tolerance, a word almost synonymous with patronage, but it involves true respect. Losing selfishness means gaining respect for others, their beliefs, systems, ways of living. That one elementary change requires a complete shift in our thinking process, thereby revealing the depth of this one message.
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The first two essays are full of weighty teachings within teachings. In the first essay, Swami Bhuteshananda has gone into the very heart of Sri Ramakrishna’s avatara, with an explanation of the concept of the avatara and their manifestations. Swami Vivekananda asserted that Sri Ramakrishna could never be understood by the spoken or written word. Swami Bhuteshananda, too, examines the specialty of the Ramakrishna incarnation with a detailed examination of his sadhanas and attainments. The second essay explores the message of Sri Ramakrishna, which is different for each individual according to personal mental and spiritual capacities. Swami Bhuteshananda has presented Sri Ramakrishna for the average devotee or follower. An illustration of this is the idea of renunciation. The writer asks: How can a person in the world renounce? Is she or he just to drop everything and run away from personal and professional responsibilities? No. The person has to practice mental renunciation (perhaps the more difficult to achieve of the two). Thus, the first part is a very comprehensive examination of Sri Ramakrishna and his greatest disciple to whom he made over all his powers just before entering into mahasamadhi. The
