Be broad-minded and liberal :

To,


All  Members,




Sri Ramakrishna is hailed as one of the greatest prophets of harmony. He was extremely liberal and all inclusive in his approach to different religions. He would advise his devotees to be broad and open hearted so that they could draw inspiration from the teachings of different religions and progress in their spiritual life. To emphasise this idea, he used to draw inference from an occurrence of daily life.


Once, a farmer had two cows. They used to give different yields of milk. One cow was extremely choosy about its fodder, etc. Even if there was a least deviation from its daily routine of food it would refuse to eat anything. The farmer found it very difficult to maintain this cow. For all the trouble that the farmer took, the cow yielded very limited milk. On the other hand, the farmer found it extremely easy to maintain the other cow. It would graze on its own and eat all and sundry food and at the same time it yielded a substantial quantity of milk. Thus, the cow which ate sparsely, yielded milk in sprinkles; while the cow that ate everything yielded milk in torrents.


Using this analogy, Sri Ramakrishna would say that if one was broad & liberal, it was possible to learn from different religious traditions and progress quickly in spiritual life; but if one was very rigid and narrow-minded it was difficult to make much headway. This does not mean that Sri Ramakrishna advocated any fickle-mindedness. He was very emphatic that one should hold on to one's own basic faith steadfastly and at the same time be liberal enough to be capable of deriving benefits from other religious traditions. In fact, he would even go so far to say that at the beginning of one's spiritual life one should be very protective about one's faith or belief. Thus, while he was extremely catholic, he was emphatic that there should be nishtha or steadfastness towards one's own chosen ideal.

by Swami Shantatmananda

Sri Ramakrishna Mission