Ramakrishna

Only two kinds of people can attain self-knowledge: those who are not encumbered at all with learning, that is to say, whose minds are not over-crowded with thoughts borrowed from others; and those who, after studying all the scriptures and sciences, have come to realise that they know nothing.Ramakrishna

Ramakrishna Paramahansa (18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886), born Gadadhar Chattopadhay or Chatterjee was an Indian Hindu mystic and spiritual leader. After adhering to various religious practices from the Hindu traditions of Vaishnavism, Tantra, and Advaita Vedanta, as well as from Islam and Christianity, Ramakrishna proclaimed the world’s various religions as “so many paths to reach one and the same goal”, thus validating the essential unity of religions. His parable-based teachings espoused the ultimate unity of various religions as means to enable the realization of same God. He is regarded by his followers as an avatar or divine incarnation of God.

After his demise, his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda popularized his ideas and founded the Ramakrishna Math which provides spiritual training for monastics and householder devotees, and the Ramakrishna Mission which provides charity, social work and education.