Vivekananda told Ramakrishna, "I want proof. If God exists then prove it.!"+

 

One more small incident -- it is not about Ashtavakra but about Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, but Ashtavakra is involved in it.... After this, we will enter the sutras.

When Vivekananda came to Ramakrishna his name was still Narendranath -- later on, Ramakrishna named him Vivekananda. When he came to Ramakrishna he was extremely argumentative, an atheist, a rationalist. He wanted proof for everything.

Some things have no proof -- it cannot be helped. There is no proof for Godliness: it is, and yet there is no proof. There is no proof of love. It is, and yet there is no proof. There is no proof for beauty. It is, and yet there is no proof.

Vivekananda told Ramakrishna, "I want proof. If God exists then prove it!"

Ramakrishna looked at Vivekananda. This youth had great promise, great potential; much was ready to happen within him. There was a great treasure with which Vivekananda was unacquainted. Ramakrishna looked into, peered into, the past lives of this youth. Vivekananda had come carrying a great treasure, a great treasure of integrity, but it was suppressed under his logic. Seeing this, a cry of anguish and compassion must have risen from Ramakrishna's heart. He said, "Forget all this. We'll talk about proof and such things later on. I have become a little old, I have difficulty reading; you are young, you eyes are still strong -- read from the book lying there." It was the Ashtavakra Gita. "Read a little out loud to me."

It is said that Vivekananda saw nothing wrong in this, this fellow was not requesting anything special. He read three or four sutras and every cell began trembling. He started to panic and he said, "I cannot read on."

Ramakrishna insisted, " Go ahead and read. What harm can there be in it? How can this book hurt you? You are young, your eyes are still fresh, and I am old, it is hard for me to read. I must hear this book -- read it out to me."

It is said that Vivekananda kept on reading aloud from the book -- and disappeared in meditation. Ramakrishna had seen great potential in this youth, a very promising potential, like that of a bodhisattva who one day or other is destined to become a Buddha. Sooner or later, no matter how much he wanders, he is approaching Buddhahood.

Why did Ramakrishna ask that he read the Ashtavakra Gita out loud to him? Because there is no purer statement of truth.

If these words penetrate you, they will start awakening your sleeping Soul.

These words will thrill you. These words will fill you with ecstasy. These words will shock you.

With these words, a revolution can take place.

I have not chosen the Ashtavakra Gita just like that. Nor could I have chosen it earlier -- I have chosen it after a long wait, after much consideration. There was a time when I talked about Krishna's Gita because there was a crowd around me. For a crowd, the Ashtavakra Gita has no meaning. With great effort, I have got rid of the crowd. OSHO 

S