Ramakrishna And His Gospel Volume 3

For nearly a decade Swami Bhuteshananda, the 12th President of the Ramakrishna Order, devoted his weekly Bengali religious classes to discussions on Sri Ramakrishna and to the unique book, 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna'. His illuminating discussions brought out the thought-provoking deeper dimensions of the simple, homely utterances of the great prophet, and they helped the audience comprehend these simple sayings of the Great Master in the light of the ancient scriptures of India, specially the Vedanta, as well as modern thought. Not unoften, many abstruse concepts, many knotty philosophical questions and doubts of Vedanta metaphysics, were lucidly explained and resolved. These were later transcribed and eventually published in a seven-volume Bengali work, 'Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita Prasanga'. The present work is an English translation of volume six and the appendix to volume five of the original Bengali work. Published by Advaita Ashrama, a publication house of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, India.

For nearly a decade Swami Bhuteshananda, the 12th President of the Ramakrishna Order, devoted his weekly Bengali religious classes to discussions on Sri Ramakrishna and to the unique book, ‘The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’. His illuminating discussions brought out the thought-provoking deeper dimensions of the simple, homely utterances of the great prophet, and they helped the audience comprehend these simple sayings of the Great Master in the light of the ancient scriptures of India, specially the Vedanta, as well as modern thought. Not unoften, many abstruse concepts, many knotty philosophical questions and doubts of Vedanta metaphysics, were lucidly explained and resolved. These were later transcribed and eventually published in a seven-volume Bengali work, ‘Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita Prasanga’. The present work is an English translation of the first three volumes of the original Bengali book. Published by Advaita Ashrama, a publication house of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, India.

For nearly a decade Swami Bhuteshananda, the 12th President of the Ramakrishna Order, devoted his weekly Bengali religious classes to discussions on Sri Ramakrishna and to the unique book, ‘The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’. His illuminating discussions brought out the thought-provoking deeper dimensions of the simple, homely utterances of the great prophet, and they helped the audience comprehend these simple sayings of the Great Master in the light of the ancient scriptures of India, specially the Vedanta, as well as modern thought. Not unoften, many abstruse concepts, many knotty philosophical questions and doubts of Vedanta metaphysics, were lucidly explained and resolved. These were later transcribed and eventually published in a seven-volume Bengali work, ‘Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita Prasanga’. The present work is an English translation of vols. four, five (minus the appendix), and seven of the original Bengali book. Published by Advaita Ashrama, a publication house of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, India.

Volume III of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita in English. This book is a word-by-word translation of the original Bengali Edition of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna... It contains the dialogues of the Bengali saint Ramakrishna written with almost stenographic accuracy. This edition is a different translation of the Swami Nikhilananda Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna which was published in the forties and showed the restraint of that era. All 5 volumes of the set are now available in English. This is volume 3 of the new edition. The expression woman and gold has been replaced by lust and greed or lust and gold. If you have read the Nikhilananda version, this translation will seem like a new Gospel.

Recorded conversations of the central inspirations of our movement. This book has attracted interest from many diverse religious groups. Large edition includes biography, photos, glossary and index. Abridged edition includes a biography.

Swami Nityatmananda lived in the company of Sri M. for a long time, maintained a diary and elaborated it in sixteen parts of Sri Ma Darshan. The book is also available in English under the title ‘M., the Apostle & the Evangelist.’ All the sixteen parts are available in Bengali too. It is a continuation of the Kathamrita. This work is the result of twenty years of hard and incessant work and tapasya, on the banks of the Ganga in Rishikesh, in the Himalayas. In this series of 16 volumes the reader is brought in close touch with the life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna family: Thakur, Swamiji, Holy Mother, M., Swami Shivananda, Swami Abhedananda and others. And there is the elucidation according to Sri Ramakrishna’s line of thought, of the Upanishads, the Gita, the Bible, Guru Granth Sahib, the Holy Quran and other scriptures. The third specialty of this work is the commentary on the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by the author himself. Says Swami Shraddhananda, “One wonders at the unusual capacity of Swami Nityatmananda in recording these day to day conversations of this Vyasadeva of our time – M. – and later developing his notes into his masterly work. One cannot fail to discover the special training he received from Sri M. himself in this direction while he was serving as a teacher in M.’s school and living with him for years.” When he read it, Swami Jagadananda remarked, “The author has presented M.’s words lifelike. After reading his Kathamrita, a study of this book will throw new light on the Kathamrita. There is no doubt about it.” The great American and senior sadhu, Swami Atulananda, wrote, “This book may serve a double purpose. To those who are acquainted with M.’s Kathamrita, it may be welcome as a companion volume, and to those not yet acquainted with the Kathamrita, it may arouse a desire to make that acquaintance. For this book, which is a record of M.’s talks with his admirers about his reminiscences, not only reveals new facts about the life of Sri Ramakrishna, but throws new light on that wonderful life.” Swami Virajananda, the late President of Sri Ramakrishna Math and Mission, heard the manuscript read to him by his Secretary when he visited Dehradun for the last time, and he was delighted to hear it. He told to the author, “What a wonderful thing you have written! Why didn’t you show it to me earlier? Never mind, now go and finish the writing. Human life is so uncertain. If you complete the writing itself, publication can be taken up by others… Ah! The move is as dramatic as the subject is sublime…’

This book is the third of the three-volume Complete Works, which comprises the writings, letters, lectures, conversations, and reports of Swami Ramakrishnananda, a direct monastic disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. Affectionately known as Shashi Maharaj, the Swami pioneered the Ramakrishna movement in southern India. He was a great thinker, prolific writer, forceful speaker, and above all, a God-realised soul. This book, which is divided into three parts, comprises the following works of Swami Ramakrishnananda: (1) the writings, class notes and reports on Ramakrishna-Vivekananda; (2) Sri Krishna, Pastoral and King Maker and God and Divine Incarnations; and (3) The Soul of Man. It also comprises a short biographical sketch of the illustrious Swami for the benefit of the readers. This book is a treasure trove of spirituality and is a must-read for all the devotees and the admirers of the Ramakrishna movement.