or rapid cosmopolitanism, devoid of that dynamism and spirit of self-sacrifice so essential for making any religious movement expressive and significant.
Even with regard to the spiritual movement inaugurated by Sri Ramakrishna, this twofold division into cult and culture holds good. The cult side of the teaching may briefly be formulated thus: (a) Sri Ramakrishna is a divine incarnation who embodies in himself the spiritual consciousness of the past incarnations and of all expressions of the Deity. (b) He is a Living Presence whom a devotee can 'contact' through love and discipline. (c) His life and personality have opened a new way of salvation, for by personal devotion and service to him one becomes a participant in the spiritual consciousness he had created, and this expedites one's spiritual evolution just as a river hurries to its destination an object that has entrusted itself to its current.
The culture side of it is embodied in the great ideals exemplified in the life of Sri Ramakrishna and his apostles, in the teachings of the Master recorded by his disciples, and in the Neo-Vedanta or science of religion preached by Swami Vivekananda, reconciling the varied aspects of the spiritual heritage that has come down through the different religions of the world.
To get the right perspective of the message of the Holy Mother, it has to be viewed in the light of this analysis. The message of everyone of the great disciples of Sri Ramakrishna represents both the cult and the culture aspects of the movement, but the proportion may differ. Thus Swami Vivekananda is the most