29th May 2003

Why did Ramkrishna choose to see Kali as "Mother" when he was certainly aware that on the Advaita Vedantic level he and the Divine Mother were one and the same?

What then is the difference between a "Ramkrishna" worshipping Kali and an ordinary person, banging the bells and chanting by rote?

That is the question, isn't it?

In an ordinary devotee, there is a "devotee" concerned with form (how worshipping is to be done, the proper manner, with the proper wherewithals), with time, when it is to be done, how long etc etc.

And invariably with an objective in mind.

Something to be obtained, achieved, attained through the act of worship.

Whether that is a Million dollars, or enlightenment, or seeking protection from a particular insecurity, a particular fear, there is an agenda in the worship.

In the case of a "Ramkrishna", there is no agenda.

There is an apperception, that worshipping is taking place by Kali for Kali, through the body-mind complex labeled "Ramkrishna".

Hence you would have noted, Ramakrishna never bothered with the form of worship.

For days, he would not worship and then for days, he would be lost to the world in the ecstasy of the worship.

It is thus, seen that after apperception, whatever gets done through the body-mind complex, in which apperception has taken place, it can only be in the nature of a holy worship, no matter what the particular form of "doing" gets to be enacted.