Companion
Witnesses: Yogananda and Sri Ramakrishna
Two Indian teachers who took Jesus seriously, each quoted only where the text was checked online.
Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952)
Autobiography of a Yogi (1946)
The 1946 first edition is in the public domain in the United States and available at Project Gutenberg (eBook #7452). All Yogananda quotations on this site come from that text and were checked against the plain-text file.
“The rishis, however, have pointed out that the acid test of a master is a man’s ability to enter at will the breathless state, and to maintain the unbroken SAMADHI of NIRBIKALPA.”— Autobiography of a Yogi, ch. 21 · source
“In the initial states of God-contact (SABIKALPA SAMADHI) the devotee’s consciousness merges with the Cosmic Spirit; his life force is withdrawn from the body, which appears “dead,” or motionless and rigid.”— Autobiography of a Yogi, ch. 26 · source
“KALPA means time or aeon. SABIKALPA means subject to time or change; some link with PRAKRITI or matter remains. NIRBIKALPA means timeless, changeless; this is the highest state of SAMADHI.”— Autobiography of a Yogi, ch. 26, footnote 11 · source
The Second Coming of Christ (published 2004)
This is a two-volume verse-by-verse commentary on the Gospels, compiled by Self-Realization Fellowship from Yogananda’s talks and writings. Its central idea, set out in the introduction, is that the “second coming” is not a literal return of Jesus. It is the awakening of “Christ Consciousness” within each person through meditation. Its commentary on Luke 17:21 reads the “kingdom within” as states reached by withdrawing attention inward in meditation. No direct quotations are given: the work is in copyright, and the only online copies found were unofficial excerpt sites or unauthorised uploads, which this site does not link. See the SRF bookstore for the authorised edition.
Sri Ramakrishna (1836–1886)
Quoted from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, translated by Swami Nikhilananda (1942), as published online at ramakrishnavivekananda.info.
Ramakrishna’s vision of Christ
Nikhilananda’s introduction describes the event in Ramakrishna’s life, dated there to November 1874:
“Behold the Christ, who shed His heart's blood for the redemption of the world, who suffered a sea of anguish for love of men. It is He, the Master Yogi, who is in eternal union with God. It is Jesus, Love Incarnate.”— Gospel, Introduction, “Christianity”: the voice Ramakrishna is said to have heard during the vision · source
“Till the last moment of his life he believed that Christ was an Incarnation of God. But Christ, for him, was not the only Incarnation; there were others — Buddha, for instance, and Krishna.”— Gospel, Introduction, “Christianity” · source
Ramakrishna’s phrase for Jesus, “the Master Yogi … in eternal union with God,” names the same thing this site’s Step 5 asks about: a life lived in the divine state rather than visiting it. Christians, Vedantins and yogis will each describe that union in their own terms. This site leaves the descriptions side by side.
On samadhi and liberation
See Step 5 for Ramakrishna’s sayings on bhava samadhi, nirvikalpa samadhi, sahaja and the jivanmukta.
Eastern perspective · Ramakrishna · Yogananda
How Ramakrishna and Yogananda read the sayings of Jesus
“But you must regard other views as so many paths leading to God.”— Sri Ramakrishna, Gospel, tr. Nikhilananda, ch. 27 · source
“Once a salt doll went to measure the depth of the ocean. (All laugh) It wanted to tell others how deep the water was. But this it could never do, for no sooner did it get into the water than it melted. Now who was there to report the ocean's depth?”— Sri Ramakrishna, Gospel, tr. Nikhilananda, ch. 3 · source
“During deep meditation, the single or spiritual eye becomes visible within the central part of the forehead.”— Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, ch. 15, note 5, on Matthew 6:22 · source
Ramakrishna’s salt doll echoes the Chandogya’s salt in water (6.13): the knower dissolves into what is known. It is a different picture of union from John 17, where the disciples remain themselves “in us”. Both pictures are given here so that readers can compare.
Where the traditions differ
These are Hindu readings of Jesus. Christian churches do not generally accept that all paths are equal, nor Yogananda’s reading of the “single eye”.