Abstract
The philosophical teachings of the nineteenth-century Bengali mystic Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa have been a source of lively interpretive controversy. Numerous commentators have interpreted Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa’s views in terms of a particular philosophical sect, such as Tantra, Advaita, or Viśiṣṭādvaita. Militating against this sectarian approach, this article argues that Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa’s philosophy is best characterized as “Vijñāna Vedānta,” a resolutely nonsectarian philosophy—rooted in the spiritual experience of what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa calls “vijñāna”—that harmonizes various apparently conflicting religious faiths, sectarian philosophies, and spiritual disciplines. From Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa’s expansive spiritual standpoint of vijñāna, God is both personal and impersonal, both with and without form, both immanent in the universe and beyond it. Part One of this article outlines five interpretive principles that should govern any attempt to determine Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa’s philosophical views on the basis of his recorded teachings. With this hermeneutic groundwork in place, Part Two reconstructs from Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa’s philosophical teachings the six main tenets of his Vijñāna Vedānta. This article demonstrates that the concept of vijñāna provides the unifying framework for interpreting and synthesizing Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa’s philosophical views on the scope of reason, the nature of God, the relationship between Brahman and Śakti, the ontological status of the universe, the different stages in spiritual experience, and the harmony of religious and spiritual paths. Part Three begins to explore how Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa’s teachings on religious pluralism can be brought into dialogue with John Hick’s influential theory of religious pluralism.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References Cited
Aurobindo, Sri. 1997. Essays on the Gita. Volume 19 of The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
Aurobindo, Sri. 1998. Essays in Philosophy and Yoga: Shorter Works, 1910–1950. Volume 13 of The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
Aurobindo, Sri. 2001. The Upanishads—II: Kena and Other Upanishads. Volume 18 of The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
Aurobindo, Sri. 2003. The Upanishads—I: Isha Upanishad. Volume 17 of The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
Bhajanananda, Swami. 2010. “Philosophy of Sri Ramakrishna.” University of Calcutta Journal of the Department of Philosophy 9: 1–56.
Bhattacharya, Dinesh. 1987. “Darśan cintāi Śaṅkara-Rāmānuja-Madhva-Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa.” In Svāmī Prameyānanda, Nalinīrañjana Caṭṭopādhyāya, and Svāmī Caitanyānanda, eds., Viśvacetanai Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, 594–609. Kolkata: Udbodhan.
Chatterjee, Satis Chandra. 1985 [1963]. Classical Indian Philosophies: Their Synthesis in the Philosophy of Sri Ramakrishna. Calcutta: University of Calcutta.
Dhīreśānanda, Svāmī. 1962. “Svāmī Vivekānanda o Advaitavāda.” Udbodhan 65, 2: 73–80 and 65, 3: 80–81, 138–44.
Dhīreśānanda, Svāmī. 1980. “Nānā dṛṣṭite Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa.” Udbodhan 82, 5: 220–26.
Gambhīrānanda, Swāmī, trans. 1989 [1957]. Eight Upaniṣads with the Commentary of Śaṅkarācārya. 2 volumes. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama.
Gambhīrānanda, Svāmī, trans. 2006 [1983]. Chāndogya Upaniṣad with the Commentary of Śaṅkarācārya. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama.
Ghoṣāl, Bipin Bihārī. 1987 [1881]. Mukti ebong tāhār Sādhan. Kolkata: Udbodhan.
Gupta, Mahendranath. 1992 [1942]. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (trans. Swami Nikhilananda). New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center.
Gupta, Mahendranāth. 2010 [1897–1932]. Śrīśrīrāmakṛṣṇakathāmṛta: Śrīma-kathita. Kolkata: Udbodhan.
Hamilton, William. 1859. Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic (eds. Henry L. Mansel and John Veitch). Volume 1 of 2: Metaphysics. Boston: Gould and Lincoln.
Hick, John. 1989. An Interpretation of Religion: Human Responses to the Transcendent. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hick, John H. 1990 [1963]. Philosophy of Religion. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
Hick, John. 2001. Dialogues in the Philosophy of Religion. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kripal, Jeffrey J. 1995. Kālī’s Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Long, Jeffery D. 2005. “Anekanta Vedanta: Toward a Deep Hindu Religious Pluralism.” In David Ray Griffin, ed., Deep Religious Pluralism: Whitehead’s Philosophy and Religious Diversity, 130–57. Louisville: John Knox Westminster Press.
Long, Jeffery D. 2008. “Advaita and Dvaita: Bridging the Gap—The Ramakrishna Tradition’s both/and Approach to the Dvaita/Advaita Debate.” Journal of Vaishnava Studies 16, 2: 49–70.
Long, Jeffery D. 2010. “(Tentatively) Putting the Pieces Together: Comparative Theology in the Tradition of Sri Ramakrishna.” In Francis X. Clooney, ed., The New Comparative Theology: Thinking Interreligiously in the 21st Century, 151–70. London: Continuum.
Mādhavānanda, Swāmī, trans. 2009 [1934]. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad with the Commentary of Śankarācārya. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama.
Maharaj, Ayon. 2015. “Toward a New Hermeneutics of the Bhagavad Gītā: Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo, and the Secret of Vijñāna.” Philosophy East and West 65, 4: 1209–33.
Maharaj, Ayon. Forthcoming-a. “Asminnasya ca tadyogāṃ śāsti: Swami Vivekananda’s Interpretation of Brahmasūtra 1.1.19 as a Hermeneutic Basis for Samanvayī Vedānta.” In Svāmī Tattvasārānanda and Arūn Chattopadhyāy, eds., Bahurūpe Sammukhe Tomār. Kolkata: University of Calcutta Press.
Maharaj, Ayon. Forthcoming-b. “ ‘God Is Infinite, and the Paths to God Are Infinite’: A Reconstruction and Defense of Sri Ramakrishna’s Vijñāna-Based Model of Religious Pluralism.” Journal of Religion.
Matchett, Freda. 1981. “The Teaching of Rāmakrishna in Relation to the Hindu Tradition and as Interpreted by Vivekānanda.” Religion 11, 2: 171–84.
Mitra, Arpita. 2014. “Ramakrishna and Vivekananda: Two Teachings or One?” Prabuddha Bharata 119, 1: 65–78, 119, 2: 194–203, and 119, 3: 251–55, 259.
Mumukshananda, Swami. 2000. “Vedanta: Concepts and Application Through Sri Ramakrishna’s Life.” In, Vedanta: Concepts and Application, 292–316. Kolkata: Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture.
Neevel, Walter. 1976. “The Transformation of Śrī Rāmakrishna.” In Bardwell L. Smith, ed., Hinduism: New Essays in the History of Religions, 53–97. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Nityaswarupananda, Swami, trans. 2008 [1940]. Aṣṭāvakra Saṁhitā. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama.
Oṃkārānanda, Svāmī. 1964a. “Brahma o Śakti abhed.” Udbodhan 66, 5: 227–32.
Oṃkārānanda, Svāmī. 1964b. “Nitya o Līlā.” Udbodhan 66, 6: 287–96.
Prabhananda, Swami. 1993. More about Ramakrishna. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama.
Prabhānanda, Svāmī. 2012. “Kathāmṛte Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇer mat ki Viśiṣṭādvaitavāda?” In, Svāmī Vivekānanda Smārak, 1–7. Kolkata: Bidhannagar Vivekananda Smarak Samity.
Prajñānānanda, Svāmī. 1976–82. Bāṇī o Bicār: Śrīśrīrāmakṛṣṇakathāmṛter vyākhyā o viśleṣaṇa. 5 volumes. Kolkata: Ramakrishna Vedanta Math.
Saradananda, Swami. 2003. Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play (trans. Swami Chetanananda). St. Louis: Vedanta Society of St. Louis.
Sāradānanda, Svāmī. 2008 [1919]. Śrīśrīrāmakṛṣṇalīlāprasaṅga. 2 volumes. Kolkata: Udbodhan.
Sarma, Debabrata Sen. 2011. “The Spiritual Life of Ramakrishna and His Gospel in the Light of Kashmir Shaivism.” In, Sri Ramakrishna: Myriad Facets, 394–412. Kolkata: Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture.
Sil, Narasingha P. 1991. Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahaṁsa: A Psychological Profile. New York: E. J. Brill.
Sil, Narasingha. 1997. “Is Ramakrishna a Vedantin, a Tantrika or a Vaishnava? An Examination.” Asian Studies Review 21, 2–3: 212–24.
Sil, Narasingha. 2009. “Kali’s Child and Krishna’s Lover: An Anatomy of Ramakrishna’s Caritas Divina.” Religion 39, 3: 289–98.
Singh, Jaideva. 1985. Vedānta and Advaita Śaivāgama of Kashmir: A Comparative Study. Calcutta: Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture.
Śraddhānanda, Svāmī. 1994. Bandi Tomāy: Rāmakṛṣṇa-Vivekānanda Bhābāñjali. Kolkata: Udbodhan.
Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad. N.d. Īśādi Nau Upaniṣad: Śāṅkarabhāṣyārtha. Gorakhpur: Gita Press.
Tadananda, Swami. 2011. “Kashmir Shaivism in the Light of Sri Ramakrishna’s Teachings.” Prabuddha Bharata 116, 1: 86–91.
Tapasyānanda, Svāmī. 1990. Bhakti Schools of Vedānta: Lives and Philosophies of Rāmānuja, Nimbārka, Madhva, Vallabha, and Caitanya. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math.
Tapasyananda, Swami. 2008 [1992]. Sri Ramakrishna: Life and Teachings (An Interpretative Study). Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math.
Thibaut, George, trans. 1890. The Vedânta-Sûtras with the Commentary by Saṅkarâcârya. Part I. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Turiyananda, Swami. 2000 [1992]. Spiritual Treasures: Letters of Swami Turiyananda (trans. and ed. Swami Chetanananda). Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama.
Turīyānanda, Svāmī. 2005 [1987]. Svāmī Turīyānander Patra. Kolkata: Udbodhan.
Tyagananda, Swami and Pravrajika Vrajaprana. 2010. Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kālī’s Child Revisited. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Vivekananda, Swami. 2006–7 [1957–97]. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda: Mayavati Memorial Edition. 9 volumes. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama.
Zimmer, Heinrich. 1951. Philosophies of India (ed. Joseph Campbell). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to the following people for helpful feedback on earlier drafts of this manuscript: Palash Ghorai, Janardan Ghosh, Ryan Sakoda, Joseph Milillo, Jeffery D. Long, Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach, and Brahmacārins Nitin and Vikas.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Maharaj, A. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa’s Philosophy of Vijñāna Vedānta. Hindu Studies 21, 25–54 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-017-9202-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-017-9202-4