The Condensed Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Book excerpt: Mahendranath Gupta, a householder disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, is familiarly known by his pen name ‘M’ and popularly as ‘Master Mahashay’. He was the recorder of the great teachings and revelations that came to humanity through Sri Ramakrishna, which he eventually published in Bengali as Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, a unique classic in the religious literature of the world. This Bengali work was translated into English by Swami Nikhilananda as The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. The present work, The Condensed Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, is M’s own English version of some of the most important and representative chapters of his voluminous work in Bengali. It is more a translation of thoughts contained in his diary than of its language. He has also included in this work several new elaborations and doctrinal discussions. In this sense, this book by nature is more of an original work by M in English rather than a mere translation.