A disciple asked his teacher, “Sir, please tell me how I can see God.”
“Come with me,” said the Guru, “and I shall show you.”
He took the disciple to a lake, and both of them got into the water. Suddenly, the teacher pressed the disciple’s head under the water. After a few moments, he released him and the disciple, thoroughly shaken, raised his head and stood up.
The Guru asked him, “How did you feel?”
The disciple said, “Oh God! I thought I would die; I was struggling to breathe.”
The teacher said, “When you feel like that for God, then you will know him.”
– Tales and Parables of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
Image above: A postage stamp issued by India in 2023 commemorating 125 years of Ramakrishna Mission.
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836-1886) was a Hindu mystic from India whose parable-based teachings espoused the ultimate unity of diverse religions as being means to enable the realisation of the same God. After his demise, his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda popularised his ideas and founded the Ramakrishna Order, which provides spiritual training for monastics and householder devotees, and the Ramakrishna Mission, which is involved in charity, social work and education.