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| JAWAHARLAL NEHRU |
Sri Ramakrishna was a man of God and I am a man of earth. Even a man of earth can admire and perhaps be influenced by a man of God. So I have been admiring Godly men, though sometimes I do not altogether understand what they said. I have admired these great men of God, and have been influenced by reading what was written about them by their disciples. These extraordinary personalities have powerfully influenced their generation and the succeeding generations. They have powerfully influenced great men and changed the whole tenor of their lives.
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa obviously was completely outside the run of average humanity. He appears to be in the tradition of the great Rishis of India, who have come from time to time to draw our attention to the higher things of life and of spirit. For India never ignored, in spite of the other activities of the world, the spiritual values of life, and say always laid certain stress on the search for truth and has always welcomed the searches of truth by whatever names they may call themselves.
One of the effects of Sri Ramakrishna’s life was the peculiar way in which he influenced other people who came in contact with him. Men often scoffed from a distance at this man of no learning, and yet when they came to him, very soon they bowed their heads before this man of God and ceased to scoff and ‘remained to pray’. They gave up, many of them, their ordinary vocations in life and business. They were great men and one of them, better known than the others, not only in India but in other parts of the world, is Swami Vivekananda. Men like Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, men like Swami Vivekananda and men like Mahatma Gandhi are great unifying forces, great constructive geniuses of the world not only in regard to the particular teachings that they taught, but their approach to the world and their conscious and unconscious influence on it is of the most vital importance to us.
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