Sri Ramakrishna was an Indian mystic, whose religious beliefs are based on spirituality and practices outside of traditional religion. Ramakrishna disliked going to school, and was not interested in the pursuit of money. He was born in a poor family and his parents were hardly able to make both ends meet. Ramakrishna developed intense devotion to Mother Kali and spent hours in loving adoration of her image, forgetting the rituals of priestly duties.

Ramakrishna Math, and Ramakrishna Mission are twin organizations which form the core of a worldwide spiritual movement (known as Sri Ramakrishna Movement or Vedanta Movement), which aims at the harmony of religions, harmony of the East and the West, harmony of the ancient and the modern, spiritual fulfillment, all-round development of human faculties, social equality, and peace for all humanity, without any distinctions of creed, caste, race or nationality. Sri Ramakrishna taught no creed or dogma.

Sri Ramakrishna saw the Divine in his wife, in his disciples, in others, even in fallen women, and treated them all with respect. Drawn by the magnetism of Sri Ramakrishna's divine personality, people flocked to him from far and near -- men and women, young and old, philosophers and theologians, philanthropists and humanists, atheists and agnostics, Hindus and Brahmos, Christians and Muslims, seekers of truth of all races, creeds and castes.

At a time when the very foundation of religion, faith in God, was crumbling under the relentless blows of materialism and skepticism, Sri Ramakrishna, through his burning spiritual realizations, demonstrated beyond doubt the reality of God, and the validity of the time-honored teachings of all the prophets and saviors of the past, and thus restored the falling edifice of religion on a secure foundation.

Ramakrishna said that God could be reached by all religions but at the same time God could not be confined by any religion. Sri Ramakrishna, also known as Paramahamsa taught ceaselessly for fifteen years the basic truths of religion through parables, metaphors, songs and by his own life. Sri Ramakrishna faithfully practiced the spiritual disciplines of different religions and came to the realization that all of them lead to the same goal. Sri Ramakrishna st

Ramakrishna emphasised that God-realisation is the supreme goal of all living beings. God dwells in all people but the manifestation of this inner Divinity varies from person to person. God can be reached by different religions. God is everywhere but he is most manifest in man. God is born on earth as man in every age. God Himself has become the twenty-four cosmic principles. God can be reached by different paths. Religions are like so-many paths leading to the same goal. Sri Ramakrishna lived on earth for 50 years between 1836 and 1886.

source: http://goarticles.com/article/Sri-Ramakrishna/1149465/

How are we to know God? Ramakrishna teaches that by constantly trying to remember Him, we go nearer to God. How is this possible, when we have so many things to do in the world ?

Ramakrishna gave this example: ‘Well, haven’t you seen village girls carrying so many pots of water on their heads and returning home? They chat and giggle all their way. They talk about their family affairs, gossip about their neighbours, but their attention is all the time on the jars. They see that these do not fall off their heads. Similarly, one who wants God should always keep his mind on Him.’

Many are the tales and parables which Ramakrishna used, to make his teachings interesting and clear. You will surely enjoy reading them.

source: http://belurmath.org/kids_section/?p=822

It was 1882. The number of devotees coming to Ramakrishna had increased. There were young and old, men and women.

One of those who came to the Master at this time was the headmaster Mahendranath Gupta. He is known as ‘M’, the author of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. It is mainly due to him that we have the wonderful record of Ramakrishna’s teachings.

After his first visit, Mahendranath made it a regular practice to visit Dakshineswar, mostly on Sundays. He was of a quiet nature. He would sit and hear the Master talk to the assembled devotees, taking mental note of everything. Sometimes he would keep memory slips. And when he went home, he would write down all that he had heard and seen. This is how the great book called the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna came to be written.

Much of Ramakrishna’s teaching was given through beautiful stories and homely illustrations. We shall mention one or two here.

He taught that God can be seen and talked to. All religions are true. They are like so many paths leading to the same goal. The goal is to see God. But people quarrel, because they are ignorant about the true nature of God. At most, they see only one aspect of God and assert that alone as true. And how they quarrel about it!

Ramakrishna told this story: Once some blind men were moving along the street. They learnt there was a big animal standing there. ‘What’s that ?’ one of them asked a passer-by. ‘The temple elephant’ replied the man, and went away.

One of the blind men said to his companions, ‘Come, let’s see what the elephant is like.’ One touched its leg and remarked, ‘Oh, I see, an elephant is like a pillar.’ Another touched the elephant’s ear. ‘No, no,’ he shouted, ‘it is like a winnowing fan.’ ‘What idiots you people are,’ exclaimed a third; ‘it’s like a big python.’ He had touched its trunk. ‘You people have got it all wrong’ cried the fourth blind man; ‘it’s like a big drum.’ He had touched the elephant’s belly.

Ramakrishna explained that he who has seen only one aspect of God talks like these blind men. They say that only that part which they have known is true. But, really speaking, God is infinite. No one can describe Him fully.

source: http://belurmath.org/kids_section/?p=822