Manifestations of One...

"Once a dispute arose in the court of the Maharajah of Burdwan among the learned men there, as to who was the greater Deity, Siva or Vishnu.

Some gave preference to Siva, others to Vishnu. When the dispute grew hot, a wise pandit remarked, addressing the Raja,

'Sire, I have neither met Siva nor seen Vishnu; how can I say who is the greater of the two?'

At this the dispute stopped, for none of the disputants really had seen the Deities.

Similarly none should compare one Deity with another.

When a man has really seen a Deity, he comes to know that all the Deities are manifestations of one and the same Brahman."


Sri Ramakrishna
in F. Max Müller, Trans.
Ramakrishna: His Life And Sayings, 141
From The Collected Edition Of Prof. Max Müller's Works,
New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1898, p. 130-131