Rolland Romain: Ramakrišna: Čovek - bog

Romain Rolland: Ramakrishna: man - god

To Europe, which is not yet aware of him, I bring the fruit of the new autumn, a new message of the spirit, the symphony of India, which bears the name of Ramakrishna. It is possible to show (and we will certainly show) that this symphony, like the symphonies of the classical masters, is made up of hundreds of different musical elements that spring from the past. But the sovereign personality, which in itself summarizes the diversity of these elements, shaping them into a magnificent harmony, is always the one that marks the work with its name,  even though it carries within itself the work of generations. And with his victory sign, he marks a new era.

The man, whose image I bring to life here, summed up in himself two thousand years of the spiritual life of three hundred million people. Although thirty years have passed since his death,* his spirit drives modern India. He was not an active hero like Gandhi, nor an artistic or intellectual genius like Goethe or Tagore. He was an unremarkable village Brahmin from Bengal, whose outer life was defined by a narrow, uncluttered framework, undisturbed by the political and social events of his time.** But his inner life encompassed the whole multitude of men and gods. It was part of the very source of energy, the divine Shakti, sung about by Vijayapati,*** the old poet of Mithila, and Ramprasad of Bengal.

There are few people who return to the source. An unremarkable peasant from Bengal, listening to the message of his heart, discovered the way to the inland sea. And there he found himself, united with him, thus bearing the words of the Upanishads:****

"I am more primal than the great gods. I am the firstborn in Being. I am the lifeblood of immortality."

It is my desire to bring the beats of that artery to the ears of fever-stricken, sleep-weary Europe. I want to moisten her lips with the blood of immortality.

Romain Rolland 1928

* At the age of fifty, 1886 His great disciple Vivekananda died in 1902 at the age of thirty-nine. We should never forget how little time separates us from their lives. We looked at the same sun, and the same time gave birth to us.

** The life of Vivekananda was quite different because he established a bridge between the old and the new world.

***”Show yourself, O Goddess of dense curls!…You are one and many, You encompass thousands and in the middle of the battlefield you oppose enemies!…” (Hymn to the goddess of energy, Shakti.)

**** Taitreja Upanishad. According to Vedanta, when the Absolute - Brahman assumed qualities and began to create the living universe, He Himself became the first created, and in Being, the essence of all visible and invisible things, the first born. The one who speaks like that has probably reached complete union with Him.