Merry Christmas!

11 thoughts on “Merry Christmas!”

1. OM NAMO NARAYANAYA
   My reverential prostrations at the Feet of beloved Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Swami Vivekananda, Swamiji Maharaj, Swami Sarvarupanandaji Maharaj and Swami Saradaprabhanandaji Maharaj.
   I offer thanks to Sri Ramakrishna for the blessings conferred upon us in the forms of Swamiji Maharaj, Swami Sarvarupanandaji Maharaj and Swami Saradaprabhanandaji Maharaj. My prayerful wish on this day is that devotees continue to enjoy the protection and grace of Swamiji Maharaj.
   Hari Om Tat Sat
   Nirmala Balkaran
   Ladysmith, SA

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   1. ||Sri Ramakrishna sharanam||
      Dear Nirmala
      Yes, All the good things that come to us, all the good events that happen in our life, all the good memories that we cherish are indeed by the grace of the Master.
      On this Merry Chrismas Day may we be imbued with the wonderful divine LOVE of Jesus for all.
      Swami Vimokshananda

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2. Aum namo narayanaya
   My salutations at the holy feet of Master, Holy Mother, Swamiji
   and revered Maharaj.
   To dear Maharaj, Swami Saradaprabhanandaji and our dear brothers
   and sisters at the centre please receive festive greetings from all at
   Shree Veeraboga Emperumal Temple.
   Besides Christ’s birthday, I realise this day is very significant to the Ramakrishna family.
   May the blessings of Master, Holy Mother and all the disciples grace all today.
   with love always
   Yogan
   Tongaat, SA

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   1. ||Sri Ramakrishna sharanam||
      Dear Yogan
      You have touched the right point! Yes, Christmas Eve i.e., 24th December is a milestone in the formation of our Ramakrishna Order. Recently I read an interesting write-up in the Devotees of Holy Trio Group in Google. The author Swami Nishthatmanandaji now in Muzaffarpur Centre in Bihar, India has placed his essay in that Group Forum. Please read the full text here but for your and others’ info I give some extracts only.
      May Swami Vivekananda inspire you ever!

      —————————–
      HAPPY CHRISTMAS

      ………. Christmas has some more relevance for the Ramakrishna Order. After Ramakrishna passed away in 1886, his disciples took their final vows of sannyasa on Christmas Eve. 24th December is a red-letter day in the history of Ramakrishna Order. The mother of Baburam Maharaj i.e.Swam Premanandaji, invited these disciples to her village house at Antpur, a few miles north-east of Kolkata. Narendranath, the leader, was of course there in the party which included Baburam Mj, Sharat Mj,Tarak Mj, Kali Mj, Niranjan Mj, Gangadhar Mj and Sarada Mj. In the calm and serene atmosphere of the village, the spiritual fire that had been lighted in their hearts by the Master blazed into a big fire. Naren’s body and mind were filled with the fire of sannyas and the following words came out of his mouth: “Let man-making be the goal of our lives! Let us make this our only spiritual discipline! Away with vain learning! Let not the glamour of the world captivate our minds even for a moment! Realization of God is the one and only thing in life! That is what Sri Ramakrishna’s life represented! We must realize God!” They kept vigil around dhuni fine and talked about the life of Christ and the glories of renunciation. It was later discovered that it happened to be the Christmas Eve – 24th December 1886. Thus it was on that day the monastic order of Ramakrishna came into existence formally at Antpur, a village in Bengal. I mention it as “formally” because in the beginning of the same year, when Ramakrishna was staying in the Cossipore garden-house for the treatment of the cancer of his throat, he himself had informally made Narendra as the leader of his young disciples and given gerua clothes to them. The story of founding of the Ramakrishna Order commences at Cossipore, continues through Baranagore and culminates at Antpur. So we can understand why Christmas Eve is particularly sacred to us, for the Order was really founded on that day.

      Swami Vivekananda had great reverential love for Christ all through his life. During the days of his stay in Baranagore Math, when all the brother disciples were struggling even for a morsel of food, Swamiji would beg for funds to buy and distribute some hundreds of copies of Imitation of Christ, authored by a Christian priest of 15th century. This book runs into about two hundred pages and guides one in imbibing the teachings of Jesus Christ into one’s life and in the way leading to complete surrender before him and the pattern of behavior one should keep for this. This book had been approved of by the Christians as next only to the Bible’s New Testament during the last five centuries. The concept of complete surrender to God is explained in this book in short articles of three to four pages each. All the words have come straight from the heart of the author. Complete surrender to Christ is the feeling of devotion of a truly dedicated soul; this point appealed to Narendra and this is a sign of his devotional temperament lying deep and dormant in this heart. Swami Vivekananda always used to keep with him in future this book by Thomas-e-Kempis during his travels. Christ merely peeped into the life of Ramakrishna, who had already attained eminence in the spiritual field. On the contrary, as Swami Vivekananda had to move in the western world, Christ has kept him company for a long time.

      In the year 1892 when Swamiji was travelling throughout the length and breadth of India as an unknown wandering monk he visited the southern tip of Indian soil. On reaching Kanyakumari, he swam across a few miles in the ocean and sat upon a rock at the confluence of Indian Ocean, Arabic sea and Bay of Bengal and became, as it were, a condensed India. He resolved not to leave the seat until Goddess Kanyakumari blesses him with a solution to regenerate India. He was absorbed in Samadhi for 3 days and nights and on 4th day he rose up from the seat with renewed energy and a practical solution to elevate the Indian masses. Later it was found that those three days were from Dec 24th to Dec 26th of 1892.
      Like all great religious teachers, Christ was a great revolutionary and he got what those who bring revolutions against a moribund established order get – crucifixion……………
      Swami Nishthatmananda, Muzaffarpur
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      1. Maharaj pranam!
         Really our Sri Ramakrishna is The God of Harmony
         Thanks for the picture!
         Ashutosh Padhee
         Sambalpur, Orissa, india

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         1. ||Sri Ramakrishna sharanam||
            Dear Ashutosh
            Yes, the picture by Dr S Adhinarayanan is indeed wonderful!
            On this Merry Chrismas Day may we be imbued with the wonderful divine LOVE of Jesus for all.
            Swami Vimokshananda

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      2. OM NAMO BHAGAWATHE SRI RAMAKRISHNAYA NAMAHA
         Revered Maharaj,
         Pranam!
         Thank you very much for reminding all of us about the significance of Christmas eve in your kind response to Yogan’s comment! Also thanks a lot Maharaj, for reproducing the excerpts from Revered Swami Nishithatmanandaji Maharaj’s article. It is really a thrilling and soul-stirring episode to visualise and meditate upon on how Swamiji would have spoken about Christ on that Christmas eve to his brother disciples!
         Here is my humble offering – a small video clip – to all the devotees who are hundreds and thousands of miles physically away from the holy place of Antpur.
         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL53ZPyCj4o
         JAI BHAGWAN SRI RAMAKRISHNA DEV KI
         Wth most humble pranam,
         Dr S Adhinarayanan
         New Delhi, India

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         1. ||Sri Ramakrishna sharanam||
            Dear Adhi
            Yes, brother Nishthatmanandaji’s essay is indeed wonderful; he has succinctly explained the salient points!
            I was glad to see your uploaded Youtube video. It just grabbed my memories and for the three minutes and thirty seconds so I was living again in Antpur. How did you video it? I was curious when I saw that the movie was smooth. Generally any video taken by the hand held cameras show lot of shaking or wobbling in the images! Yours was perfect!
            On this Merry Chrismas period may we be imbued with the wonderful divine LOVE of Jesus for all.
            Swami Vimokshananda

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            1. OM NAMO BHAGAWATHE SRI RAMAKRISHNAYA NAMAHA
               Revered Maharaj,
               Pranam!
               It is my pleasure and privilege to share such divine treasures with all the devotee brothers and sisters through you.
               It gives me immense joy to learn that you liked the video clip very much.
               Maharaj, the clipping which I sent you is taken from the film “Holy Foot Prints of Sri Ramakrishna”.
               Last year, at Chennai Math, while preparing a small presentation on ‘Sri Baburam Maharaj’, I culled out some video excerpts from the resources which I had. All credit goes to Revered Swami Abhiramanandaji Maharaj who continuously keeps on encouraging and guiding me in such humble efforts.
               Maharaj, we pray for your benevolent blessings on all of us, so that we devotees, may serve Sri Gurumaharaj in our own humble way forever.
               JAI BHAGWAN SRI RAMAKRISHNA DEV KI
               With most humble Pranam,
               Dr S Adhinarayanan
               New Delhi, India

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3. Revered Swamijee
   Om Namo Narayanaya!
   Please accept humble pranam! This is a perfect example of a picture that speaks a “Thousand words”. The portrayal of holiness, festivity, togetherness and most important a sense of Serenity and Nearness to the Lord is really intoxicating to one’s spirit. A big thank you to our talented Sri Adhiji for the brilliant picture!
   Wishing all our brothers and sisters around the globe a spiritually uplifting 2010!
   Thank you Revered Swamijee for sharing this beautiful picture to all!
   With respectful pranam!
   Pranaam
   Johannesburg, SA

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   1. ||Sri Ramakrishna sharanam||
      Dear Pranaam
      Indeed I don’t deserve any thanks. All credit goes to Adhiji who despite his busy schedule is sending me and I hope to all his Contacts of RK Devotees! Any one of his talent could have used it for monetising but he is different.
      On this Merry Chrismas period may we be imbued with the wonderful divine LOVE of Jesus for all.
      Swami Vimokshananda

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