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.

Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on December 22, 2013.

In this Christmas-season talk, Swami Bhaskarananda reflects on “the Christ we adore” from within the broad religious outlook of the Vedanta tradition. He explains why the Ramakrishna Order honors Jesus as a divine incarnation, recounting Sri Ramakrishna’s vision of Christ and using it to emphasize the unity of the one Divine Reality appearing through different spiritual teachers in different times and cultures. Placing Jesus in the context of India’s understanding of avatāras, he also touches on how religious language and institutions can become distorted by worldly motives, recalling the money-changers in the temple and Jesus’ challenge to hypocrisy.

Swami Bhaskarananda highlights how Jesus embodies multiple yogic paths: devotion expressed through prayer and love of God, knowledge through teachings such as “the kingdom of God is within you” and “I and my Father are one,” and selfless action through compassion, courage, and forgiveness. He notes that while miracles draw attention, Christ’s deeper greatness is revealed in fearlessness, moral clarity, and mercy—especially in praying for his tormentors and in his response to the woman accused of adultery.

Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on December 15, 2013.

Swami Bhaskarananda introduces Sri Sarada Devi—revered as the Holy Mother and the spiritual consort of Sri Ramakrishna—as a divine incarnation whose distinctive mission was to reveal the motherhood of God. He explains that within the Vedantic tradition, the Divine is beyond gender and limitation, yet can be approached through various relationships—mother, father, child, friend—according to the temperament of the devotee. In this sense, Sarada Devi embodies the maternal aspect of the Divine with a tenderness that welcomes all, without exclusion.

He describes her universal, all-inclusive love and the way she guided seekers with simple, practical counsel, such as learning to see one’s own shortcomings rather than dwelling on the faults of others, and regarding the whole world as one family. Alongside this steady motherly compassion, he recounts a few traditional accounts in which she briefly revealed spiritual power, always in the spirit of protection rather than display. The talk closes by emphasizing her blessing for all—those who came to her and those who did not—and her enduring presence as a refuge for anyone who turns to her in sincerity.