Ramakrishna Mission, Delhi

People often think that they have understood Brahman fully. But, it is really immeasurable and unfathomable. To drive home this point, Sri Ramakrishna used to narrate a beautiful story. Once, an ant went to a sugar hill. It had gone there with the idea of eating up the entire hill, but one grain filled its [...]

Sri Ramakrishna would often emphasize the role of faith in spiritual life. To illustrate the idea he used to narrate a beautiful parable. Once, a young Sanyasi went to a house to beg for some food. He had embraced the monastic life from his very boyhood and so hadn’t much knowledge of the world. A [...]

Most of the spiritual seekers try to seek God or the Ultimate Truth in the objective world. They seldom pay attention to the subjective aspect of reality. To explain this idea Sri Ramakrishna used to narrate a beautiful story. A man who was very fond of smoking wanted to enjoy smoke through a hubble-bubble and [...]

Sri Ramakrishna used to narrate a beautiful parable to explain the true nature of this world. Once, there lived a man who had a great teacher. The man knew that the teacher had miraculous powers. He begged his teacher to teach him a mantra by which he could tame ghosts. The teacher obliged him. One [...]

People, particularly the householders, have a vague idea of what true renunciation is. Tyaga or renunciation demands an extraordinary state of mind. To illustrate this idea Sri Ramakrishna used to narrate a beautiful story. In a rare instance of coincidence, a husband and wife renounced the world and together undertook a pilgrimage to various holy [...]

We see so much of inter-religious and intra-religious disharmony, misunderstanding and communal tension in the world today. More than 130 years ago Sri Ramakrishna explained the reasons for this malady through a beautiful parable. Four blind men went out to see an elephant. One blind man touched the leg of the elephant and said that [...]

Sri Ramakrishna would tell a beautiful story to explain how seekers often search for Truth or ultimate reality in faraway areas whereas the Truth is very near. Once a bird sat on the mast of a ship. When the ship sailed through the waters of the Ganges into the black waters of the ocean, the [...]

Sri Ramakrishna would often extol the power of devotion and how the impossible is made possible through that power. To illustrate this idea he used to narrate a parable. Once there was an Annaprasana (a Hindu religious ceremony in connection with the offering of cooked rice to a baby) in a Guru’s house. His disciples [...]

Once Narada, the divine sage, committed some transgression. Then, Vishnu, the Lord of Goloka or heaven, cursed him saying that Narada would be thrown into hell. At this Narada was greatly disturbed and prayed to the Lord singing songs of devotion and begging him to show where the hell was and how he could go [...]