Sunday, August 2, 2015
Sri Ramakrishna’s Jnana Yoga" – Br. Shankara”]
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August is a month for the study of Jnana Yoga, an approach to realization through analysis, discrimination, and reason. The goal is freedom from all limitation. Our scriptures and teachers say that life’s misery — its sense of imprisonment — is caused by seeing inaccurately. The jnana yogi may break through this framework of illusion and see only the Divine everywhere and in everyone.
“Stand as a rock. You are indestructible. You are the Self, the God of the Universe!” — Swami Vivekananda, CW V1 p246 (Immortality)
Sri Ramakrishna led his disciple Naren (who later became Vivekananda) from an attitude of deep Western skepticism to a conviction that this expression of Vedic non-duality is the literal and most fundamental Truth.
Mahatma Gandhi said–
“The story of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s life is a story of religion in practice. His life enables us to see God face to face. No one can read the story of his life without being convinced that God alone is real and that all else is an illusion…”
This talk is about Sri Ramakrishna’s Jnana Yoga. Because the Master’s intense devotional sadhana (spiritual journey) is so dramatic, his many teachings on the “wisdom” or non-dual path are often all but ignored.
Those who knew Ramakrishna well said of him: “He’s all bhakti (devotion) on the outside, all jnani (knower of Brahman) on the inside.” In this talk, Br. Shankara discusses that “inner” Ramakrishna and his teachings on the jnani’s path to freedom.