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

Carol service of universal brotherhood

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On Christmas eve, when the bells jingle in celebration of Christ’s arrival on earth, the monks of Sri Ramakrishna Mission will sing the carols of good tidings.

The ashram’s chapter in Thiruvananthapuram is organising its first-ever Christmas carol to join the league of Ramakrishna Maths in the country which have long had elaborate services on the holy night.

The baptismal carol of the ashram in Sasthamangalam is being held under the initiative of Swami Tatwaroopananda, who took charge as the head of the math in Thiruvananthapuram early this year.

“At the Mumbai ashram, where I spent about 25 years, we would have a large gathering of devotees on the Christmas eve,” remembers Swamiji.

“We would invite priests and nuns from nearby churches who would address the devotees. A senior swami would read from the Bible and another from the sermon on the mount. A representative of the math would also speak on the cosmopolitan foundation of Sri Ramakrishna Mission and the significance of celebrating the birth of Christ.

We would then sing carols and all the devotees, ascetics, priests and nuns would join in,” he says. In Thiruvananthapuram, the celebration would begin with a reading from the Bible and the gathering would be limited to the inmates of the math and a few devotees for this year, says swamiji. Meticulous by habit, swamiji offers a worn sheet of paper which has the lyrics of the carol songs sung at the maths typed on it. It contains the lyrics of traditional carols such as ‘Silent Night, Holy Night’, ‘O Come, All ye Faithful’ and ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’.

Also typed in Hindi is a song in Sanskrit. “That is a Sanskrit carol song sung in Ramakrishna Maths for a very long time. It was penned by one of the ascetics of the mission who did not sign his name under the poem. The song has been handed down to the inmates of the mission over many years and now, nobody knows for sure who authored the lines,” says swamiji. ‘He thath, dayitasmakam duloke yosi samsidhitah...’ the song reads.

“The author is praying to Christ, who is hailed as the father and redeemer, to guide him through the ordeal of life,” explains Swamiji and hums the tune for us.

Trained in singing bhajans and playing the keyboard, swamiji was one of the lead singers of the carols in Mumbai, he confesses after much probing.

Fr C Joseph, former vicar of St Joseph Metropolitan Cathedral, Palayam, welcomed the initiative as “rejoicing in the universal message of peace”.

“Christians observe the birth of Jesus Christ as a religious ceremony, but it also has a universal message of peace. All those who wish peace for humanity will rejoice on the occasion,” he said.

From: http://ibnlive.in.com