Not this, not that

I have no idea why Sri Ramakrishna had such an impact on me when I first came across his biography, ‘The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’. After all, he was illiterate in his days while I had just completed my graduate studies in economics. I guess after coming across his life story I felt that I had finally verified for myself that the enlightened saviors of mankind do exist. Everything about his story seemed authentic, and the witnesses of his enlightenment had come to Europe and the US to share the gospel of the East.

Ironically, after this insight I took a 14 year spiritual time-out and focused on my professional career in the financial industry instead. It was only after the birth of our two boys that the spiritual seed of that time kicked in again and I suddenly realized that it was now up to me to spread the gospel. After spending the last ten years or so of traveling Lao-Tzu’s ‘the Way’, it occurred to me only the other day that my path and that of Sri Ramakrishna’s are in fact remarkably similar.

Sri Ramakrishna saw Kali Maa everywhere and talked to Her every day. When my journey started, I wrote about Lao-Tzu’s Tao instead. I realized that we can always be connected to the Beyond. GOD permeates everyone and everything; Heaven is contained in earth, just as earth is part of Heaven. From that perspective it is just a small step to see Kali Maa—or Her more benign Durga Maa manifestation—in everything and everyone. Different from the love and miracle focused path of the Christ, we see Her handwriting in good and evil. Kali Maa—just like the Tao—transcends duality.

‘Not this, not that’ was Sri Ramakrishna’s advice. Different from the more philosophically oriented spiritual leaders such as Ramana Maharshi who argued that only Consciousness and Oneness exists, Sri Ramakrishna was a little more hands on in his approach. ‘Take away everything that is not Her’, was his advice, or he would say, ‘Stop wasting my time unless you talk to me about God’. ‘Not this, not that’ was his path to the ultimate God realization. It is really not hard to do, you just instinctively know; follow the energy and vibration. Just realize Her here and now!