The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' is one of the greatest contributions to the biographical and spiritual literature of the 20th century. The most beautiful likeness in the 'Gospel' is that of rural Bengal and its large population?its lifestyles, its vocations, and its religious and popular passions. But many of the village scenes described in the 'Gospel' are either extinct or fast facing extinction. Keeping a record of these vanishing scenes with the help of photographs?and, where that is not possible, with drawings and narrations?will effect a preservation of the detailed background that greatly enhances the uniqueness and power of the 'Gospel'. This is what the author has tried to do in this book. Printed in glossy art paper with many colour illustrations.
Those who die, merely suffering the woes of life like cats and dogs, are they human beings? The worthy are those who, even when agitated by the sharp interaction of pleasure and pain, are discriminating and, knowing them to be of an evanescent nature, become passionately devoted to the Atman. This is all the difference between human beings and animals.
-Swami Vivekananda