>Riquix: /* The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna */

2021-06-27T05:44:19Z

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

New page

{{Short description|Bharatpedia bibliography}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2020}}
[[Ramakrishna]] (1836–1886) is a famous mystic of nineteenth-century India. Ramakrishna never wrote down the details of his own life. Sources for his life and teachings come from the writings of his disciples and live witnesses. Ramakrishna's recorded sayings mainly come from the last four years of his life.<ref>
{{cite book
| last = Neevel
| first = Walter G
|author2=Bardwell L. Smith
| title = Hinduism: New Essays in the History of Religions
| chapter = The Transformation of Ramakrishna
| publisher = Brill Archive
| year = 1976
|page=61
| isbn = 90-04-04495-7}}
</ref>

==The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna==
The book ''[[Kathamrita|Sri Sri Rāmakrishna Kathāmrita]]'' by [[Mahendranath Gupta]] under the pseudonym ''M.'', was published in five volumes in 1902, 1905, 1908, 1910 and 1932. [[Mahendranath Gupta]] recorded his daily interactions with Ramakrishna in his diary, which were subsequently published as ''[[Sri-Sri-Ramakrishna-Kathamrta]]'' in 5 Volumes in [[Bengali language|Bengali]]. According to [[Romain Rolland]], the information in these volumes is available with "stenographic precision".<ref name="rr_biblio"/>

The English translations of ''Kathamrita'' were published by [[Swami Nikhilananda]] in his book [[The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna]]. According to scholars Neevel, Lex Hixon the book provides authentic information<ref>
{{cite book
| last = Neevel
| first = Walter G
|author2=Bardwell L. Smith
| title = Hinduism: New Essays in the History of Religions
| chapter = The Transformation of Ramakrishna
| publisher = Brill Archive
| year = 1976
| pages = 61–62
}}
</ref> about Ramakrishna. The book was voted as one of the ''"100 Most Important Spiritual Books of the 20th Century"'' by the [[United States|American]] [[scholars]] convened by Philip Zaleski and [[HarperCollins]] publishers,<ref>{{cite web
| title = 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Century
| url = http://www.faithalivebooks.com/collections/harper_100_best.html
| access-date = 2008-08-21
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080827233208/http://www.faithalivebooks.com/collections/harper_100_best.html
| archive-date = 2008-08-27
| url-status = dead
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
| last = Zaleski
| first = Philip
| title = The Best Spiritual Writing 2000
| publisher = [[HarperCollins]]
| year = 2000
| location = San Francisco
| url = https://archive.org/details/bestspiritualwri00phil_5
| isbn = 978-0-06-251670-1
}}
</ref> However, scholars argue that the book has been [[bowdlerized]].<ref>Sil, 1993; Hatcher, 1999; Radice, 1995; Kripal 1998</ref> Kripal argues that although [[Nikhilananda]] calls it a literal translation, he "substantially altered Gupta's text, combining the five parallel narratives", "as well as deleting some passages which he claimed were of no particular interest to English-speaking readers.".<ref>''Kali's Child'' (1995), p.329-336</ref> However other scholars Sil, [[Swami Tyagananda]],<ref>{{cite journal
| author = Swami Tyagananda
| title= Kali's Child Revisited
| year = 2000
| url = http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/s_rv/s_rv_tyaga_kali1_frameset.htm
| quote = What is most important to note is that Nikhilananda was honest when he said that he omitted "only a few pages of no particular interest to the English speaking readers" (Gospel, vii). He did not deny the omissions and it seems to me unfair to question his integrity-as Kripal does-simply because Kripal finds something of "particular interest" which Nikhilananda didn't.
}}</ref> Somnath Bhattacharrya,<ref>
{{cite journal
| author = Somnath Bhattacharrya
| title = Kali's Child: Psychological And Hermeneutical Problems
| year = 2002
| quote = Anybody with an elementary knowledge of Bengali may check for himself that Kripal's charge about Nikhilananda having "ingeniously mistranslated (or omitted) almost every single secret "(KC 333) is simply untrue. As a matter of fact if one cross checks the list of these passages marked guhya-katha, one finds that in an overwhelming majority of instances Nikhilananda's translations are faithful to the letter as well as spirit of the original.
}}</ref> Swami Atmajnananda<ref name="atma-q"/> argue that Kripal's observations are incorrect. They also argue that Nikhilananda's translations were faithful and took into consideration the western decorum.<ref name="atma-q">
{{cite journal
| last = Atmajnanananda
| first = Swami
| title = Scandals, cover-ups, and other imagined occurrences in the life of Ramakrishna: An examination of Jeffrey Kripal's Kali's child
| journal = International Journal of Hindu Studies
| volume = 1
| issue = 2
| pages =401–420
| publisher = Springer
| location = Netherlands
| date = August 1997
| doi = 10.1007/s11407-997-0007-8
| quote = In each case, however, it is Nikhillnanda's sensitivity to Western decorum that seems to have dictated his translation decisions, not fear of revealing hidden secrets. Had this been the case, he certainly would have eliminated far more of Ramakrishna's remarks than he did. In each case also, we find Kripal's translation of the missing portion more misleading than Nikhilananda's omissions.
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite journal
| author = Swami Tyagananda
| title= Kali's Child Revisited
| year = 2000
| url = http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/s_rv/s_rv_tyaga_kali1_frameset.htm
| quote = Translating texts across cultural boundaries is not easy: if you translate the "word," you risk being misunderstood; if you translate the "idea," you are charged-as Kripal does-with "bowdlerizing" the text. His allegation that Nikhilananda omitted portions containing "some of the most revealing and significant passages of the entire text" (KC 4) is not only textually unjustified but completely untrue.
}}</ref> Peter Heehs argues,<ref name="Heehs">
{{cite book
| last = Heehs
| first = Peter
| title = Indian Religions: A Historical Reader of Spiritual Experience and Expression
| publisher = C. Hurst & Co. Publishers
| year = 2002
}}
</ref> that the translation in ''[[The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna]]'' turns Ramakrishna's vigorous and occasionally coarse Bengali into English of near-Victorian propriety and do not convey as much as the Bengali originals, however, Heehs writes that the works on M and Saradananda remain documents of considerable value, which have allowed Ramakrishna to speak to a worldwide audience.<ref name="Heehs"/> [[Lex Hixon]] writes that the ''Gospel'' is "spiritually authentic" and "powerful rendering of the ''Kathamrita'' into dignified English."<ref name="Hixon">{{cite book|last=Hixon|first=Lex |title=Great Swan|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=1997|pages=xiv|chapter=Introduction|isbn=978-0-943914-80-0}}</ref>

A recent translation, by Dharm Pal Gupta, is subtitled "word to word translation of the original Bengali edition" (see "other books" below).

==Books on Ramakrishna==
Keshabchandra Sen's ''Paramahamsa Deber Ukti'' (1878) is the earliest known work on Ramakrishna.<ref name="early-bio">{{cite book|last=Sen|first=Amiya P.|title=Three essays on Sri Ramakrishna and his times|publisher=Indian Institute of Advanced Studies|year=2003|pages=30–32|chapter=Anatomy of a Text}}</ref> Keshab also publicized Ramakrishna's teachings in the journals of his religious movement ''New Dispensation'' over a period of several years,<ref name="jm_pb">{{cite journal
| last = Mukherjee
| first = Dr. Jayasree
| title = Sri Ramakrishna's Impact on Contemporary Indian Society
| journal = Prabuddha Bharata
| date = May 2004
| url = http://www.eng.vedanta.ru/library/prabuddha_bharata/sri_ramakrishna%27s_impact_on_contemporary_indian_society_may04.php
| access-date = 2008-09-04
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080924025928/http://www.eng.vedanta.ru/library/prabuddha_bharata/sri_ramakrishna's_impact_on_contemporary_indian_society_may04.php
| archive-date = 24 September 2008
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> which was instrumental in bringing Ramakrishna to the attention of a wider audience, especially the [[Bhadralok]] (English-educated classes of Bengal) and the Europeans residing in India.<ref name ="mm_56-57">
{{cite book
| last = Müller
| first = Max
| title = Râmakrishna his Life and Sayings
| year = 1898
| pages = 56–57
| chapter = Râmak''ri''sh''n''a's Life
| chapter-url= http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rls/rls14.htm
}}
</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Debarry|first=William Theodore|author-link=William Theodore|author2=Ainslie Thomas Embree |others=[[Stephen N. Hay]]|title=Sources of Indian Tradition: From the Beginning to 1800|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=1988|page=63|isbn=978-0-231-06415-6|author2-link=Ainslie Thomas Embree}}</ref> This was followed by Sureshchandra Dutta's ''Pramahamsa Ramakrishna Deber Ukti'' (1884)<ref name="early-bio"/>

''Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsadever Jivan-vrittanta'' (1880) by [[Ram Chandra Dutta]],<ref name="A.P.Sen"/>{{Failed verification|date=September 2008}} is one of the earliest published biography of Ramakrishna. Religious scholar, [[Narasingha Sil]]<ref name="sil_rr">{{cite book
| last = Sil
| first = Narasingha P
| author-link = Narasingha Sil
| title = Ramakrishna Revisited
| publisher = University Press of America
| date = 28 May 1998
| location = America
|page=368
| isbn = 978-0-7618-1052-0}}</ref> and [[Jeffery Kripal]]<ref>{{cite book
| last = Kripal
| first = Jeffery
| author-link = Jeffery Kripal
| title = Kali's Child
| publisher = University Of Chicago Press
| date = 1 October 1998
|page=420
| isbn = 978-0-226-45377-4}}</ref> argue that Datta's ''Jivanvrttanta'' is the most scandalous biography of Ramakrishna, "containing the lurid details of his ''[[sadhana]]'' as well as his quite suggestive encounters with his patron Mathur." They cite a letter written by [[Swami Vivekananda]] in 1884 asking to "Avoid all irregular indecent expressions about sex etc...because other nations think it the height of indecency to mention such things, and his life in English is going to be read by the whole world"<ref name="epi_32">[[s:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Epistles - First Series/XXII Alasinga|The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda ~ Volume 5 ~ Epistle XXIII]]</ref> and calling [[Ramchandra Dutta]]'s translation a "bosh and rot".<ref name="epi_32"/> They also argue that [[Ramchandra Dutta]] faced a possible lawsuit from [[Swami Vivekananda]]. However, [[Swami Atmajnanananda]] and Pravrajika Vrajaprana argue that as of 1995, this book has been published in nine Bengali editions.<ref name="atma">
{{cite journal
| last = Atmajnanananda
| first = Swami
| title = Scandals, cover-ups, and other imagined occurrences in the life of Ramakrishnaa: An examination of Jeffrey Kripal's Kali's child
| journal = International Journal of Hindu Studies
| volume = 1
| issue = 2
| pages =401–420
| publisher = Springer
| location = Netherlands
| date = August 1997
| doi = 10.1007/s11407-997-0007-8
}}
</ref><ref name="prav_vraj">
{{Cite journal
| last = Vrajaprana
| first = Pravrajika
| title = Review of Kali's child, by Jeffrey Kripal
| journal = Hindu-Christian Studies Bulletin
| volume = 10
| pages = 59–60
| year = 1997
}}
</ref> Kripal later withdrew his claim that the Ramakrishna Mission has consciously concealed information.<ref>
{{Cite web
| title = Pale Plausibilities: A Preface for the Second Edition
| author = Jeffrey Kripal
| url = http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kalischi/pale.html
| quote= "I have also, I believe, overplayed the degree to which the tradition has suppressed Datta's Jivanavrttanta. Indeed, to my wonder (and embarrassment), the [[Ramakrishna Order]] reprinted Datta's text the very same summer ''Kali's Child'' appeared, rendering my original claims of a conscious concealment untenable with respect to the present}}
</ref>

In 1887, [[Akshay Kumar Sen]] wrote Ramakrishna's life in verse — ''Sri Sri Ramakrishna Punthi'' in [[Bengali language|Bengali]]. [[Akshay Kumar Sen]] later wrote ''Padye Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Dever Upadesh'' and ''Sri Sri Ramakrishna Mahima''.

''Sri Sri Ramakrishna Lilaprasanga'' by [[Swami Saradananda]]. The book was begun in 1909 and left partially incomplete at the author's death in 1927.<ref>
{{cite book
| last = Neevel
| first = Walter G
|author2=Bardwell L. Smith
| title = Hinduism: New Essays in the History of Religions
| chapter = The Transformation of Ramakrishna
| publisher = Brill Archive
| year = 1976
|page=62
}}
</ref> Scholars [[Romain Rolland]], Isherwood considered [[Swami Saradananda]] an authority both as a [[philosopher]] and as an [[historian]] on Ramakrishna.<ref name="rr_biblio">
{{cite book
| last = Rolland
| first = Romain
| title = The Life of Ramakrishna
| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.463366
| year = 1929
| pages = 232–237
| chapter = Bibliography
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
| last = Isherwood
| first = Christopher
| author-link = Christopher Isherwood
| title = Ramakrishna and his Disciples
| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/ramakrishnahisdi00ishe
| chapter-url-access = registration
| chapter = The Birth of Ramakrishna
| year = 1965
|page=[https://archive.org/details/ramakrishnahisdi00ishe/page/2 2]
| quote = Although Saradananda did not begin his work until more than twenty years after Ramakrishna's death, there is no doubt of its authenticity. Many of those who had known Ramakrishna were then still alive, and Saradananda carefully compared his memories with theirs.
}}
</ref>

''My Master'', speeches by [[Swami Vivekananda]] in 1896.<ref name="My_Master">
{{cite book
| last = Vivekananda
| first = Swami
| title = Complete Works
| year = 1896
| pages = 154–188
| chapter = [[s:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 4/Lectures and Discourses/My Master|My Master]]
| title-link = s:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
}}
</ref> Religious Scholar [[Narasingha Sil|Sil]] argues that Ramakrishna is a product of Vivekananda's "Mythmaking and Propaganda",<ref name="viv_myth">
{{cite book
| last = Sil
| first = Narasingha P
| s2cid = 170634342
| author-link = Narasingha Sil
| title = Ramakrishna Revisited
| journal = Numen
| volume = 40
| issue = 1
| pages = 38–62
| chapter = Vivekānanda's Rāmakṛṣṇa: An Untold Story of Mythmaking and Propaganda
| jstor = 3270397
| year = 1993
| doi = 10.1163/156852793X00040
}}</ref> Scholars Max Müller, Walter G. Neevel, Christopher Isherwood have expressed the opinion that Vivekananda has presented an accurate picture of Ramakrishna.<ref>
{{cite book
| last = Müller
| first = Max
| title = Râmakrishna his Life and Sayings
| year = 1898
| pages = 30–31
| chapter = The Dialogic Process
| chapter-url= http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rls/rls13.htm
| quote = I had made it as clear as possible to Vivekânanda that the accounts hitherto published of his Master, however edifying they might be to his followers, would sound perfectly absurd to European students, ... that descriptions of miracles performed by the Saint, however well authenticated, would produce the very opposite effect of what they were intended for. Vivekânanda himself is a man who knows England and America well, and perfectly understood what I meant.
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
| last = Neevel
| first = Walter G
|author2=Bardwell L. Smith
| title = Hinduism: New Essays in the History of Religions
| chapter = The Transformation of Ramakrishna
| publisher = Brill Archive
| year = 1976
| pages = 53–97
| quote = …Although Müller claims still to see "the irrepressible miraculising tendencies of devoted disciples", we can assume that Vivekananda, under the admonitions from the leading Indologist of the day, made every effort to make his account as factual and accurate as possible.
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
| last = Isherwood
| first = Christopher
| author-link = Christopher Isherwood
| title = Ramakrishna and his Disciples
| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/ramakrishnahisdi00ishe
| chapter-url-access = registration
| chapter = The Birth of Ramakrishna
| year = 1965
|page=[https://archive.org/details/ramakrishnahisdi00ishe/page/23 23]
| quote = When we meet Vivekananda in the latter part of this story, we shall find him a highly skeptical young man with a western-agnostic education in Calcutta, who refused utterly to believe in the supernormal until he had, so to speak, banged his head against it. And even when Vivekananda's disbelief had been modified by personal experience, even when he had become one of Ramakrishna's most passionate devotees, he still discouraged blind faith in others, still urged everyone to find out the truth for himself. And, over and over again, he asserted that it really did not matter whether you believed that Ramakrishna was a divine incarnation or not. Can we accuse such men of lying?
}}
</ref> Scholar Amiya P. Sen argues that Sil's thesis, "naively overlooks" several factors.<ref>
{{cite journal
| last = Sen
| first = Amiya P.
| title = Sri Ramakrishna, the ''Kathamrita'' and the Calcutta middle classes: an old problematic revisited
| journal = Postcolonial Studies
| volume = 9
| issue = 2
| pages =165–177
| date = June 2006
| quote = More recently, a critic has argued that Vivekananda's missionary career was really chosen by default as the life of a householder or a normal secular profession eluded him.11 There are several factors that such formulations naively overlook. First, there is the vibrant religious quest created in modern Bengal primarily by the Brahmo Samaj, but also by less known bodies. Second, there are the older and continuous male-brahmanical concerns that evidently Ramakrishna and his upper-caste devotees share. Third, a religious quest does not always follow from a sense of depravity, and material success is not in every case a measure of human happiness or well-being.
| doi=10.1080/13688790600657835
}}
</ref>

Other biographic works include Mahendranath Dutta's ''Sri Ramakrishner Anudhyan'', ("Sacred Memories of Sri Ramakrishna"),<ref name="A.P.Sen">
{{cite journal
| last = Sen
| first = Amiya P.
| title = Sri Ramakrishna, the ''Kathamrita'' and the Calcutta middle classes: an old problematic revisited
| journal = Postcolonial Studies
| volume = 9
| issue = 2
| pages =165–177
|date=June 2006
| doi=10.1080/13688790600657835}}</ref> Satyacharan Mitra's 1897 ''Sri Sri Ramakrsna Paramahamsadeber Jiboni o Upadesh'' ("The Life and Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa"),<ref name="A.P.Sen"/> and Sureshchandra Datta's 1886 ''Sriramakrsnadeber Upades'' ("Teachings of SriRamakrishna").

[[Max Müller]]'s book ''Râmakrishna: His Life and Sayings'' (1898) is one of the earliest works by a Western scholar on the life of Ramakrishna and, according to Walter Neevel, a relatively independent source of biography.<ref>
{{cite book
| last = Neevel
| first = Walter G
|author2=Bardwell L. Smith
| title = Hinduism: New Essays in the History of Religions
| chapter = The Transformation of Ramakrishna
| publisher = Brill Archive
| year = 1976
|page=63
| isbn = 90-04-04495-7}}
</ref> Romain Rolland, writing in 1929, said that this work is based on first-hand evidence, analysed in "broad and clear critical spirit".<ref name="rr_biblio"/> [[Max Müller]] said that he based his book on the testimonies of [[Swami Vivekananda]] and several independent witnesses, both favorable and unfavorable to Ramakrishna.<ref>
{{cite book
| last = Müller
| first = Max
| title = Râmakrishna his Life and Sayings
| year = 1898
|page=61
| chapter = Mozoomdar's Judgement
| chapter-url= http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rls/rls16.htm
}}</ref> [[Max Müller]] regarded Ramakrishna as ''The Real Mahatman''.<ref>
{{cite news
| author = Max Müller
| title = A Real Mahatman
| publisher = The Nineteenth Century
| year = 1896
| author-link = Max Müller
}}
</ref>

[[Romain Rolland]]'s book ''Life of Ramakrishna'' (1929) is another biographic work which is based on direct disciples of whom Romain Rolland writes —"I have received glowing testimony at their hands. I have talked with some among them, who were the companions of this mystic being - of the Man-Gods- and I can vouch for their loyalty. Moreover, these eye-witnesses are not the simple fishermen of the Gospel story; some are great thinkers, learned in European thought and disciplined in its strict school.",<ref>{{cite book
| last = Rolland
| first = Romain
| title = The Life of Ramakrishna
| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.463366
| year = 1929
| pages = xxiii
| chapter = Prelude
}}</ref> and independent eyewitnesses of Ramakrishna who were alive at his time. He had consulted the [[Christians|Christian]] missionaries who had interviewed Ramakrishna.<ref>
{{cite book
| last = Rolland
| first = Romain
| title = The Life of Ramakrishna
| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.463366
| year = 1929
|page=205
| chapter = The River Re-Enters the Sea
}}
</ref>

In 1995, [[Jeffrey J. Kripal]] argued in his controversial ''[[Kali's Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna]]'', a psychoanalytic study of Ramakrishna's life, that Ramakrishna's mystical experiences were symptoms of repressed [[homoeroticism]].<ref>Parsons, William B., "Psychology" in ''Encyclopedia of Religion'', 2005 p. 7479</ref> Kripal also argued in ''[[Kali's Child]]'' that the Ramakrishna Movement had manipulated Ramakrishna's biographical documents, that the Movement had published them in incomplete and bowdlerised editions (claiming among other things, hiding Ramakrishna's homoerotic tendencies), and that the Movement had suppressed [[Ram Chandra Datta]]'s ''Srisriramakrsna Paramahamsadever Jivanavrttanta''.<ref>Kripal(1995) ''Kali's Child'' 1 edition{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>

In 2018, Ayon Maharaj, a monk-in-training holding a doctorate in philosophy from the [[University of California, Berkeley]],<ref name=maharajfacpage>{{cite web |title=Faculty, Programme in Philosophy |url=http://philosophy.rkmvu.ac.in/faculty/ | access-date=18 March 2019}}</ref> published ''[[Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality]]'' ([[Oxford University Press]]), a book-length philosophical interpretation of Ramakrishna's teachings.<ref name=maharaj18>{{cite book |last1=Maharaj |first1=Ayon |title=Infinite paths to infinite reality: Sri Ramakrishna and cross-cultural philosophy of religion. |date=2018 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780190868239 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FVRuDwAAQBAJ |oclc=1079877496 |language=en}}</ref>
Maharaj argues that "Ramakrishna's spiritual standpoint of [[Vijñāna#Hinduism|vijnana]] holds the key to understanding his nuanced position on religious diversity",<ref name=pandya19/> and his analysis of Ramakrishna "combines detailed exegesis with cross-cultural philosophical investigation".<ref name=pandya19>{{cite journal |last1=Pandya |first1=Samta |title=Review of Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality: Sri Ramakrishna and Cross-Cultural Philosophy of Religion |journal=Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews |date=5 March 2019 |url=https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/infinite-paths-to-infinite-reality-sri-ramakrishna-and-cross-cultural-philosophy-of-religion/ |access-date=18 March 2019 |issn=1538-1617 |oclc=610584887}}</ref> [[Pratap Bhanu Mehta]] characterized Maharaj's book as "philosophically astute [and] textually scrupulous",<ref name=mehta19>{{cite news |last1=Mehta |first1=Pratap Bhanu |author-link1=Pratap Bhanu Mehta |title=The Seeker of Infinity |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/the-seeker-of-infinity-5619135/ |access-date=18 March 2019 |work=[[The Indian Express]] |date=10 March 2019 |language=en-IN}}</ref> a work that defends "Ramakrishna against the charge of an indiscriminate eclecticism on the one hand, or a covert hierarchy on the other. He meticulously reconstructs Ramakrishna’s thought around four pillars: the nature of God’s infinitude, the nature of [[religious pluralism]], the epistemology of [[Scholarly approaches to mysticism#Mystical experience|mystical experience]] and the [[problem of evil]]. In each of these four areas, Maharaj both advances an original interpretive thesis and brings Ramakrishna into a dialogue with comparative philosophy and religious practice."<ref name=mehta19/>

==Other books==
* ''[[Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master]]'' by [[Swami Saradananda]], Translated by Swami Jagadananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai.
*''Life of Sri Ramakrishna, compiled from various authentic sources'' (1925) by [[Swami Madhavananda]] is also one of the primary sources of Ramakrishna's biography and contains first hand accounts of his disciples, live witnesses.<ref name="rr_biblio"/>
*''Life of Sri Ramakrishna'', Swami Nikhilananda, Foreword by Mahatma Gandhi, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata.
* ''Ramakrishna, His Life and Sayings'', by Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. {{ISBN|978-1-60506-646-2}}
* ''A Short Life of Sri Ramakrishna'', by Swami Tejasananda.
* ''Words of the Master: Selected Precepts of Sri Ramakrishna'' by Swami Brahmananda
* {{Cite book| last =Ananyananda | first =Swami | title =Ramakrishna: a biography in pictures | publisher =Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta | year =1981 | isbn =978-81-85843-97-1 }}
* {{Cite book | last =Chetanananda | first =Swami | title =Ramakrishna As We Saw Him | publisher =Vedanta Society of St Louis | year =1990 | location =St. Louis | isbn =978-0-916356-64-4 | url =https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780916356651 }}
* {{Cite book| last= Hourihan | first=Paul | title=Ramakrishna & Christ, the Supermystics: New Interpretations |publisher=Vedantic Shores Press |year= 2002|isbn=1-931816-00-X }}
* Prosser, Lee. (2001) Isherwood, Bowles, Vedanta, Wicca, and Me. Writers Club: Lincoln, Nebraska. {{ISBN|0-595-20284-5}}
* {{Cite book|first=Saraswati |last=Satyananda |title=Ramakrishna: The Nectar of Eternal Bliss |publisher=Devi Mandir Publications |isbn=1-877795-66-6 |year=2005 }}
* {{Citation | last =Shourie | first =Arun | author-link= Arun Shourie | year =2017 | title =Two Saints: Speculations around and about Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Ramana Maharishi. | publisher =Harper Collins.}}
*{{Cite book| last =Torwesten | first =Hans | title =Ramakrishna and Christ, or, The paradox of the incarnation | publisher =The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture | year =1999 | isbn =978-81-85843-97-1 }}
* [http://www.worldcat.org/title/srisriramakrshna-janmotasaba-o-abatara-pujara-adiparba/oclc/52268920 ŚrīśrīRāmakr̥shṇa janmot̲asaba o abatāra-pūjāra ādiparba / Aruṇa Kumāra Biśvāsa (2003), publisher Kalakātā : Phārmā Ke. Ela. Ema, 2003], On the festivities and celebrations concerning the birth anniversaries of Ramakrishna, 1836–1886, book by [[Arun Kumar Biswas]], {{ISBN|8171021026}}]
* [[Ram Swarup|Swarup, Ram]], (1986). Ramakrishna Mission: In search of a new identity. New Delhi: Voice of India.
* {{Cite book|last=Zaleski|first=Philip |title=Prayer: A History|publisher=Mariner Books|year=2006|chapter=The Ecstatic}}

== See also ==
* [[Views on Ramakrishna]]
* [[Bibliography of Swami Vivekananda]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

{{Ramakrishna}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Books On Ramakrishna}}
[[Category:Ramakrishna]]
[[Category:Bibliographies of people|Ramakrishna]]
[[Category:Indian biographies]]

Bibliography of Ramakrishna - Revision history

>Riquix: /* The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna */