THE FALLACY OF RAMAKRISHNA'S GRAND ASSERTION THAT ALL RELIGIONS LEAD TO GOD ... 1

THE FALLACY OF RAMAKRISHNA'S GRAND ASSERTION THAT ALL RELIGIONS LEAD TO GOD ... 1 

Before reading the Qur'an do not jump to the conclusion that all religions lead to God even if Sri Ramakrishna says so. Remember, Sri Ramakrishna had also said that shame, hatred and fear must be shed before one may aspire for God-realisation. And Islam mandates fearing God as part and parcel of a Muslim's submission to 'Him'. There lies the contradiction and the caveat attached to Sri Ramakrishna's statement that all religions lead to God. Here the Islamic scripture runs in direct contradiction to Ramakrishna's requirement for religious progression. Moreover, Sri Ramakrishna talks of God-realisation or Self-realisation as life's ultimate aim as opposed to Heaven-reaching which latter course is Islam's highest spiritual objective. There lies another contradiction. Sri Ramakrishna mandates abstinence from 'woman and gold', that is, the practice of absolute continence and the non-attachment to material wealth which again runs contrary to Islam which mandates one, two, three or four contractually bound wives plus any number of sex-slaves obtained as booty by force of the right arm. The whole of the Qur'an is a direct contradiction of 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna'. Hence you see the contradictions galore in Sri Ramakrishna's general assertion in relation to the truth of all religions as paths to God and here in especial connection to Islam as stated. Moreover, Sri Ramakrishna practised only a version of Sufi Islam as taught by his preceptor Gobinda Ray. Now Sufism is not the classical Islam of Allah's Qur'an but is a later evolution of Islamic thought which is heresy in classical terms. Hence, the Ramakrishna assertion regarding Islam may not be taken as absolute and may even be classically deemed as flawed which indeed it is.

Written by Sugata Bose