Rama Krishna’s Reformation and his disciple: Vivekananda in India

Rama Krishna’s Reformation in 19^th century created a tremendous change in the socio-religious life of India. Through the influence of various religions and cultures, Rama Krishna could present new didactics to the Indian society. Although his intellectual principles are rooted in Hinduism, his (and his disciples’) coherent intellectual system became a method to develop his thoughts in the contemporary world. Which attitude caused this reformation to have a universal dimension? By explaining two theories including monotheism and existential unity, he not only achieved the experience of the spiritual life, but also could make a new interpretation of the aspects of socio-religious life based on believing in all religions’ unified existence (religions’ unity) and the only truth (God), so that he recognized the divine love and kindness towards humans as the only way of men’s peace; and then his disciples developed his intellectual principles about theology, human, world and the Hereafter. In this article, we describe in a descriptive and analytical research, the ideas of the founders of this movement and we critique their similarities and differences.

 1-    Introduction
The land of India is the land of different cultures and religions. Religion is involved directly in all the affairs of Indian people. Any kind of change in one of these two, will result in some alteration in the other one. During the thousand years of Indian history, many characters have tried to develop the social situation and revive the religious attitude of Indians. The arrival of Christian missionaries at the beginning of the nineteenth century was followed by humiliation and denial of Hindu customs, But the Indian youth took the western knowledge into their service and started to review their own religion. In the meantime, Ramakrishna's reformist movement was formed that Ramakrishna and Vivekananda established Neo Hinduism by making social and religious improvements. Religious songs and mystical poems were so effective in forming the Ramakrishna’s character and thought. Vivekananda was born in 1863. His father was familiar with the western thoughts and also was influenced by the Islamic culture by having connections with the Muslims. By entering the western world and the day science studies he decided to make an evolution in the Indian’s religious and social structure. Vivekananda became among the students of Ramakrishna and stood by him till the rest of his life and started to learn the mystical journey and mysteries while was leading the movement. After the Ramakrishna’s death, Vivekananda with the other students of Ramakrishna spent six years to spread Ramakrishna’s thoughts in different regions.

2-    Research methodology
In this survey relying on the findings and the research data which are based on the study of Ramakrishna’s original works and resources, theoretical analysis has been done. In this method expressing the trainings and teachings of two religious characters it is tried to evaluate their theories in the centrality of man, world and God. Due to the lack of Persian resources, in this paper it is tried to examine the approach of these two characters by taking advantage of foreign authors.

3-    Discussion
In 1858 Ramakrishna chose the bhakti or divine love for mystical journey and he believed that the best tool is divine knowledge, at this moment the individual soul will be absorbed in the holy spirit and the person will float in the ocean of Brahman, because the human body is like a pot as if you pour water and put rice and potato into it, they will all absorb the heat of fire. The mind, the intellect and the senses of the human being would be ripened if they absorb the heat of divine love. Two of his theories about world and religion is considered:

The principle of religions’ unity
Belief in the unity of existence

In his idea, Gods are different in religions and this difference is apparent. There’s no difference in the essence of religions and all the religions are a way to the God because all the rivers flow to the ocean. The knowledge inception will happen in different levels in humans:

The view of attributes which suits the common people and God will appear in different shapes of its own.
The view of essence which belongs to wisdom owners.
The view of superego which suit the perfect human

Ramakrishna believed that human being is not only the God’s creature but also is a manifest of God and there’s no difference in the lower levels of society (Sudra) and Brahman. Ramakrishna blended the unity of existence with love and human service.
But his student- Vivekananda-started his social activity in 1892. His intellectual system is based on the teachings of Gita and Vedanta and moreover his thoughts have elements of Buddhist religion, Islam, Christianity and the new western culture which are compatible with the old holy Hindu scriptures. He also extended his beliefs by the effect of Upanishad and getting saved through mystical austerity, prayer, thought and meditation. He bolded the triple principles in his worldview:

Education and training
Religion and culture
Indian youth generation

 
4-    Conclusion
The nineteenth century in India, with the advent of modernity, began to develop new social-religious developments. Before the social-religious movements, the religious and philosophical systems of India passed many ups and downs in order to recognize the transcendental truth of man. By the influence of Islamic and Christianity attitudes and Hinduism traditions Ramakrishna succeeded to present his own theoretical and practical teachings to Indians society. Ramakrishna converted the intellectual world into the objective world which became the basic reason for the global success of this movement. The link between mysticism and religion with social trends and the analysis of the religious traditions of the Indian predecessors made him a new philosopher and according the two theories of unity of religions and monotheism he addressed the negation of the world's inauthenticity, the impact of improper behaviors in the human soul, the negation of cruel social laws and the role of society in human bliss. But after him, his student, Vivekananda, tried to globalize Ramakrishna's movement and by linking religion and modernity and the unity of religions not only he sought to reform the Indian community, but also tried to fulfill his global movement on the basis of Vedanta's speeches so that it can reach the three fundamental dimensions of Indian culture and civilization which are self-confidence, theology, and the recognition of the eternal world.
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