NOTE: From Nahabat Web Admin:

In honour of this day, celebrating the Birth of Jesus Christ, we are offering the following excerpt from a lovely article, from the Tines of India entitled: "Christmas eve at the Ramakrishna Mission" :

Sri Ramakrishna spent time understanding other religions. The image and teachings of Jesus Christ attracted him in particular and a strong spiritual connection between Christ and the monastic order of Ramakrishna exists. He had one of his followers explain the New Testament in Bengali to him and one day, he studied a picture of the Madonna and Child for such a long time that it suddenly became a living effulgent image.

It absorbed him into a mystical experience which he described later to an astounded group of listeners. In that vision, he said, he saw a church in which devotees were burning incense and lighting candles before Jesus. Ramakrishna spent three days in this state.

On the fourth day he emerged from his experience. He was in a grove at Dakshineshwar, when a serene looking person walked purposefully towards the Swami, eyes fixed on him. Ramakrishna's realisation was instantaneous. "This is Jesus who poured out his heart's blood for the redemption of mankind. This is none other than Christ, the embodiment of love."

A biographical account of the Sage of Dakshineshwar says that in that marvellous face-to-face which all spiritualist aspirants long for, the Son of God embraced Ramakrishna. They merged and the Swami who called Jesus "Isha" went into a state of transcendental consciousness or samadhi.

A few days after Ramakrishna's death nine of his young disciples were preparing to take their vows of renunciation when their leader - the future Swami Vivekananda - told his brothers the story of Jesus Christ. He asked them to be like Christ, to pledge themselves to help in the redemption of the world and to deny themselves - like Jesus had done - for a greater good.

The monks, accustomed to following only the Hindu calendar, later found out that that same evening had been December 24, Christmas Eve - an auspicious occasion for their vows.

Christ has been greatly honoured and revered by the Ramakrishna Mission with Christmas observed joyfully in all the Mission centres and schools and many monks quoting Christ's words to explain and illustrate spiritual truths, seeing an essential oneness between his messages and that of Hindu acharyas.

Profound truths break down walls and replace them with love and understanding. Every universal thinker has said that the mind is the centre; a powerhouse that produces energy for change, both within and without.

This truth has always been freely available in India, home and host to all religions where the maximum number of diverse sorts of prayers are said to the same sense of the Sacred.

Om Shanthi Om

Mission prays on Xmas-eve


Ramakrishna Mission, Shillong. Telegraph picture

Shillong, Dec. 25: It was Christmas celebration with a difference for those who thronged the Ramakrishna Mission at Laitumkhrah here last evening.

Around 300 people, irrespective of religious affiliations, took part in the prayers organised at the institute in keeping with a tradition started by Ramakrishna’s disciples on December 24, 1886.

Swami Brahmadevananda, the secretary of Ramakrishna Mission, Shillong, said after the death of Ramakrishna in 1886, nine of his disciples, including Swami Vivekananda, gathered on December 24 night and read scriptures recollecting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. They lit a fire outside the house of one of the disciples, Babu Ram (Swami Premananda), at Antpur in Hooghly district of West Bengal and took the vow of sanyas. Swami Vivekananda spoke about the sacrifice of the disciples of Christ and the need to emulate the way of life of Jesus and his disciples.

Ramakrishna’s disciples also contemplated on the life and works of their spiritual teacher and stressed the need to spread a new message of redemption. They realised only on December 25 morning that they had taken the vow of renunciation on Christmas-eve.Since then, all the units of Ramakrishna Mission recollect the teachings of Jesus on Christmas-eve.

At the institute’s auditorium here, the monks had decorated a picture of Jesus and Mary and placed cakes and sweets below the altar where candles were lit. Illuminated Christmas trees and stars were added attractions. The monks performed puja in the presence of the devotees followed by singing of carols.

Speaking at the function, Swami Brahmadevananda said Christmas, the birth of Christ and the message it signifies, was very important for every devotee of Ramakrishna paramhansa.

Swami Achyuteshananda, the head of the Vivevakanda Cultural Centre on Quinton Road here, read out the Sermon on the Mount, which is a message of hope for the poor and the needy during Christmas, from the Bible.

O.P. Lyttan, a former judicial magistrate who was the chief guest, spoke about the significance of Christmas.

As light refreshments were served, the monks and the people who had gathered at the Ramkrishna Mission, exchanged greetings of love and brotherhood.

From: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1101226/jsp/northeast/story_13349547.jsp