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RÄmakṛṣnÌ£a Paramahaá¹sa
A Psychological Profile
Series: - Brill's Indological Library, Volume: 4
Author:
In the entire corpus of RÄmakṛṣnÌ£a research, carried out mostly by his disciples, devotes, and admirers, only a handful have attempted to analyze his divine reputation. Yet none has examined the RÄmakṛṣnÌ£a phenomenon fully.
This is the first comprehensive psychoanalysis of RÄmakṛṣnÌ£a's sexuality in general and his androgyny in particular, as well as a critical examination of his sermons samÄdhis. Instead of the popular paramahaá¹sa there now emerges the less attractive but more authentic profile of an utterly selfish, capricious but highly intelligent spiritual master who elicited awed submission from everybody by his unpredictable and frenzied behaviour.
The author asserts that RÄmakṛṣnÌ£a's spiritual odyssey is better explained as his desperate but successful effort to deal with his emotional and sexual crisis, rather than as the universally acknowledged outcome of a divine teleology. Attempting to distinguish the historical RÄmakrÌ£snÌ£a from the godhead of hagiography, this study offers a challenging debate on mystic phenomenon.
This is the first comprehensive psychoanalysis of RÄmakṛṣnÌ£a's sexuality in general and his androgyny in particular, as well as a critical examination of his sermons samÄdhis. Instead of the popular paramahaá¹sa there now emerges the less attractive but more authentic profile of an utterly selfish, capricious but highly intelligent spiritual master who elicited awed submission from everybody by his unpredictable and frenzied behaviour.
The author asserts that RÄmakṛṣnÌ£a's spiritual odyssey is better explained as his desperate but successful effort to deal with his emotional and sexual crisis, rather than as the universally acknowledged outcome of a divine teleology. Attempting to distinguish the historical RÄmakrÌ£snÌ£a from the godhead of hagiography, this study offers a challenging debate on mystic phenomenon.
Narasingha Prosad Sil, Ph.D., University of Oregon, is Associate Professor of History, Western Oregon State College. His publications include William Lord Herbert of Pembroke, c. 1507-1570: Politique and Patriot (1988) and KautÌ£ilya's ArthaÅÄstra: A Comparative Study (1989), and numerous articles in European and English history and in political and educational philosophy in international journals.
"...anyone wanting an authentically Bengali, [...], should turn to Sil for the wicked pleasure he provides." â William Radice, in: Bulletin School of Oriental & African Studies, 1995
(post)graduates and specialists in (history/sociology of) religion, Indology, and psychology.