Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on December 29, 2013.

In this talk on understanding Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Bhaskarananda explains why the idea of divine incarnation can be difficult to accept, and why it nevertheless stands at the heart of both Vedanta and Christianity. He uses simple analogies—such as water taking solid form, the ocean appearing as waves, and a king traveling incognito—to show how the formless Divine can appear in human form while remaining unchanged in its essence. From this perspective, Sri Ramakrishna’s divinity is “hidden” behind a human disguise, so that many who meet him see only a gentle, childlike, seemingly uneducated man.

The lecture then focuses on how Sri Ramakrishna deliberately maintained these disguises, sometimes even denying extraordinary experiences others attributed to him, so that the work of awakening spirituality could proceed naturally. Swami Bhaskarananda describes Sri Ramakrishna’s power to kindle spiritual awareness in others, and recounts several incidents from the lives of his disciples and companions that illustrate both his concealment and his occasional, brief self-disclosure. The talk concludes by noting that complete intellectual explanation is not required: what matters is recognizing Sri Ramakrishna’s continuing spiritual support for those who seek knowledge of the Self and a life oriented toward the Divine.