Ramakrishna's fish stories

Ramakrishna - The mentor of Swami Vivekananda  - was well known for his penchant for fish preparations.  Fish used to show up in some of his well known similes as well. The one I liked the most and the one that is relevant to today's topic is as follows.

In this simile, Ramakrishna talks about a mother preparing fish for her kids. For the  youngest kid, which probably does not even have teeth, he says that the mother would prepare fish soup so that the kid can just sip it up. For a more grown up kid, she would prepare baked fish lightly spiced. For a further elder kid she would probably make a spicy fish dish.

Depending on the kid's ability to digest, the mother would make the same fish in different ways to suite each kid.

So also, when great masters arrived, each came with a message most suited to the audience they had, the time that demanded it, and so on. 

Long long ago, the Upanishadic seers  came up with highly philosophical messages, the ones that can be understood only by advanced practitioners. They were of no use to ordinary people since they were beyond their reach.

Then came masters like Buddha, who talked at more laymen level. His message was apt for the millions who were fed up with wars, bloodshed and atrocities.  Buddha did not give high intellectual sermons. He used similes that could be understood by even laymen.

Almost immediately after Buddha, came Jesus Christ, who was more concerned with ordinary people. His messages were meant for them. He emphasized on morality rather than on high philosophic views of the Upanishads or the advanced meditative practices of Buddha. He focused more on devotion rather than intellectual quests or deeper states of meditation. He was the Guru of the common man.

In today's times when morality has almost been relegated to backseat, probably messages of Christ become more relevant.

.....

I ran a long series of posts on Upanishads sometime last year and my book "Upanishads - A Journey into the Unknown" came as an outcome.

Early this year, I ran another series based on Buddha's discourses. My Book "Buddha's Soul : Invaluable  Insights from an Enlightened Master" followed as a result.

This week I am going start another long series based on Jesus Christ. Hope I will make that equally interesting and enlightening as well.

So, let us meet once again on every Wed/Thursdays and Fri/Saturdays (depending on which part of the world you are in) and listen to this great Master.