Indrajit Bandyopadhyay Page 1 of 13 Associate Professor of English Kalyani Mahavidyalaya Fish and Fisherman Imagery in Śrī-Rāmakṛṣṇa’s Teachings: Discourses on Power and Beyond in the light of Vedas and Mahābhārata Śrī -Rāmakṛṣṇa’s anecdotes and similies are mostly from everyday life sources. Certain imageries recur in them. In this paper, I will discuss on His use of Fish-Fisherman Imagery as found in Śrī Mahendranātha Gupta’s diary “Śrī-Rāmakṛṣṇa Kathāmṛta.” 1 Śrī -Rāmakṛṣṇa’s rural background, his mostly ‘Fish-loving’ Bengali audience, his regular viewing of fishing in Gaṅgā, his Tantra Sādhanā with symbolic Fish 2 – all these are obvious reasons why Fish-Fisherman Imagery abound in his anecdotes. 3 However, as I shall attempt to show in this paper, such imagery is Śrī -Rāmakṛṣṇa’s ‘natural’ legacy of the tradition of Vedic Dharma upheld by Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana and Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa - which, with his ingenious genius, Śrī -Rāmakṛṣṇa further re-creates and transforms into metaphors of Self-realised philosophic and soteriological concepts as ‘Sahaja’ expressions of Truth. 1. Fish/Fisherman Imagery, Food and Power In Vedas and Mbh., 4 Fish is symbol and metaphor for God, King, Yogī, powerlessness, vulnerable ordinary man, spiritually weak persons, 5 and destined victim of Kāla. 6 Vyāsa’s frequent use of Fish-Fisherman Imagery, including Mātsyanyāya Imagery 7 , the Indra-Vṛtra myth of Satapatha Brāhmaṇa in terms of ‘eating’ and ‘food,’ 8 primacy of Food stated in Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, 9 and in Upaniṣads 10 – all suggest that Fish/Fisherman Imagery related to Food is actually Imagery of Power. Kṛṣṇa interprets Indra-Vṛtra war as an internal war, 11 and Indra overcomes the Asuras only after understanding his Self 12 because External Conquest is not possible without Internal Conquest. 13 Indra ‘armed with Net,’ is the archetypal Fisherman and Vṛtra is the archetypal Fish. 14 Indra’s being Samrāt, Svarāt, Kṣetravidaṃ, lord of two Raṣtras (of his Self and of People), spiritual guide, ‘vratapā,’ and ‘Vidvān’ 15 – show the essential qualities of Fisherman – the combination of Ṛṣi and King – a fact, also evident in the transcultural symbols and metaphors of Fish and Fisherman 16 . 2. God: Fish/Fisherman Paradox In ‘Hindu’ philosophy, God/Puruṣa is Fish, 17 and also Fisherman – the role prominently evident in Śiva, Śakti (Pārvatī/Kālī), Viṣṇu, and Kṛṣṇa. 18 Śrī -Rāmakṛṣṇa’s God is Fish playing in pond-water of Heart, invisible from ‘outside’ owing to reeds and scum of Māyā. Again, God is Fisherman catching fish-beings with his Māyā-Net, only allowing the Big-Fish Free-Souls to escape.