March 2005 Zushi Retreat
(Celebrating Sri Ramakrishna's 170th Birth Anniversary)

The 170th Birth Anniversary of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Deva was celebrated at the Vedanta Society of Japan's (Nippon Vedanta Kyokai) monthly retreat in Zushi on March 20. The public programme was to include a brief puja, arati and flower offering from 10:30, a morning session talk from 11:30, a lunch (Prasad) break from 12:45, and a very special musical programme of traditional Indian and modern Japanese and Western devotional songs from 3 p.m. (See Story) 

By 11:00 a capacity crowd overflowed into the adjacent meeting room from where guests were quietly jostling for glimpses of the proceedings as Swami Medhasananda conducted the puja and arati. Everyone was then encouraged to offer a flower at the shrine, which they did in twos and threes, and the congregation shifted to the meeting room for the morning session talk entitled 'Understanding Sri Ramakrishna'.

Swami was clearly pleased with the turnout and enthusiastically welcomed one and all to the retreat and Sri Ramakrishna's 170th Birth Celebration. "I see that many of you are students, not only interested in Indian music, but also in the Indian spiritual tradition. I believe this interest is very important to any serious study, since the very basis of Indian culture, music and dance, is religion and philosophy. And while nothing is free in Japan, we do not charge any money to attend our functions. We don't convert people either. And whether you practice a faith or not, you are welcome to come here. And Zushi is quite a nice area to enjoy, too. So, two points; no conversion and no money (laughter). I invite you to come again and enjoy the peaceful and spiritual atmosphere here."

For the benefit of these students and friends the swami began his remarks with a brief introduction to Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda and the Vedanta Societies. "Sri Ramakrishna is regarded as the great prophet of modern India; by many as a Jesus Christ or Gautama Buddha. The main characteristics of his Gospel are the harmony of religions; one of His most famous utterances is 'as many faiths, so many paths' - the idea that there is not only one way to realize God; and He taught that one should not only see God in temples, churches or images, but in everyone, and serve them. "

"One of his main disciples, Swami Vivekananda, went to America to preach this Gospel in 1893. He visited Japan on the way and liked many qualities of the Japanese people very much. Many of these qualities are still visible today, for example, the sense of discipline, hard work, love of country and sense of beauty. The great Okakura Tenshin went to India to ask Swami Vivekananda to return to Japan, but due to failing health he could not return. Quite some years later, this Centre was established and we have 155 Centres worldwide today.

"People the world over like the universal ideas of Vedanta temples, the message of harmony and the rationality. In our shrines you'll also find photo representations of Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha, so we not only preach harmony of religions, but we practice this harmony. We observe these birthdays in our temples as well. That is the feature of genuine Indian philosophy and religion, not only of Sri Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. "

Swami then summarized the ancient origins of Vedanta and stressed the universality of this religious philosophy. "Sri Ramakrishna taught that though we call God differently; Bhagavan of the Hindus, Allah of the Muslims, God of the Christians; they are not different, they are one and the same God. The sun that rises in Japan and the sun that rises in Indian and the sun that rises in America, are they different suns? The sun is called by different names in different languages, but it is the same sun."

"Another idea of Vedanta is that the purpose of life to realize the Self or God, because only by realizing the Self or God the purpose of life is fulfilled. All secular joys are temporary and fleeting and only spiritual joy is eternal. According to Hinduism, and this is very interesting, one may take any path according to one's liking to realize God." The swami then touched on the paths of devotion to God (bhakti yoga), selfless service and work for God (karma yoga), the path of philosophy or discrimination (jnana yoga) and the path of meditation (raja yoga) and control of the mind and senses."

Again addressing the music students in particular, Swami continued, "Not only these, but according to Hinduism. through music, through song, through playing an instrument and through instrumental music one can achieve God." After highlighting one example with a story, he continued, "In my life I have seen some classical musicians in India. When they were performing, to me it looked like they were meditating. You see, as a yogi meditates with deepest concentration, without caring who is watching; when a classical singer or musician performs he doesn't care who is doing what or for other's appreciation, they dive deep. So what is the difference between a yogi and such a musician? And Sri Ramakrishna said the same thing, that if you can really sing with great devotion, you can realize God.  There many examples, Ramprasad, in Bengal, who just by singing, realized Mother Kali is one."

Returning again to understanding Sri Ramakrishna the swami said, "When we study the life of Sri Ramakrishna and his teachings, we understand one thing, and that is that it is very simple... If you read the Bible, the new testament, you'll get the same impression - it's so simple... The same thing about the teachings of Gautama Buddha... It is only the scholars who put everything into very difficult language. But realized souls always speak in a very simple and easily understandable way. At the same time it is very deep. This is the characteristic; simple but deep. Common people are all simple, but not deep. Then again the more you read, the more you develop, and the more you develop, the more you understand the sayings of these great souls. The important thing is to dive deep, don't just float on the surface, but dive deep."

"Why are their teachings so deep? Because their consciousness is always connected to the Supreme Consciousness. As Sri Ramakrishna would say, 'I am just the instrument of my Divine Mother. I am the machine, Mother is the operator. Mother doesn't allow me to take a false step.' To say it in another way, their consciousness is connected to that Supreme Consciousness and whatever they say is for the welfare of all people, for the welfare of all humanity. Whatever they do, they do for the welfare of humanity. So if we study the life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna in that way, we will come to understand that, first of all, it is very deep. Secondly, it is all true. Thirdly, it is for the welfare of all. It is for the welfare of humanity." ･