Sri Ramakrishna
      [1836-1886]
      An Indian saint

     a.. Sri Ramakrishna, [1836-1886] represents the very core of the
spiritual realizations of the seers and sages of India. His whole life was
literally an uninterrupted contemplation of God. He reached a depth of
God-consciousness that transcends all time and place and has a universal
appeal. Seekers of God of all religions feel irresistibly drawn to his life
and teachings. Through his God-intoxicated life Sri Ramakrishna proved that
the revelation of God takes place at all times and that God-realization is
not the monopoly of any particular age, country, or people. In him, deepest
spirituality and broadest catholicity stood side by side. The God-man of
nineteenth-century India did not found any cult, nor did he show a new path
to salvation. His message was his God-consciousness. Drawn by the magnetism
of Sri Ramakrishna's divine personality, people flocked to him from far and
near -- men and women, young and old, philosophers and theologians,
philanthropists and humanists, atheists and agnostics, Hindus and Brahmos,
Christians and Muslims, seekers of truth of all races, creeds and castes.
His small room in the Dakshineswar temple garden on the outskirts of the
city of Calcutta became a veritable parliament of religions. Everyone who
came to him felt uplifted by his profound God-consciousness, boundless love,
and universal outlook. Each seeker saw in him the highest manifestation of
his own ideal. By coming near him the impure became pure, the pure became
purer, and the sinner was transformed into a saint. (Swami Adiswarananda,
Ramakrishna- Vivekananda Center of New York)
        b.. "He daily went into 'samahdi,' a trance in which one
involuntarily falls down unconscious and enters a rapturous state of
super-conscious bliss (ananda), complete with beautiful visions and often
involving astral projection. These states could last anywhere from a few
minutes to several days and were often accompanied by uncontrollable
laughter or weeping. He could send others into this state with a single
touch to the head or chest" (unpublished article by John Rice on file at
SPIRITUAL COUNTERFEITS PROJECT), (citing Warren Smith by permission in an
article for Spiritual Counterfeits Project entitled "HOLY LAUGHTER or Strong
Delusion", Fall, 1994, Vol. 19.2)
      SAME AS CHARISMATICS:

     involuntarily falls down unconscious and enters a rapturous state of
super-conscious bliss

      beautiful visions and often involving astral projection

      accompanied by uncontrollable laughter or weeping

      He could send others into this state with a single touch to the head
or chest"