Francis Younghusband

Sir Francis Younghusband was a British Army officer, explorer and spiritualist. He is remembered chiefly for his travels in the Far East and Central Asia and his writings on the subject.

Not content with receiving devotees, Ramakrishna would also go forth to find other seekers after God and ascertain how far they had progressed towards their goal. Usually devotees are satisfied if they have experienced God in one aspect. Ramakrishna yearned to know Him in every aspect. Nothing fully satisfied him. His whole life was spent in seeking God and experiencing Him in different aspects.

[Ramakrishna] had no urge … to go all over India preaching—or even to go as far as Calcutta only four miles off. But there did arise in his mind a tremendous longing to pass on his experiences to a few devotees. ‘There is no limit to the yearning I had then’, he afterwards said. ‘I looked forward wistfully to the day when my beloved companions would come. I hoped to find solace by conversing with them and telling them of my experiences. A mother has never longed so intensely for the sight of her child, not a lover for his sweetheart, as I did for them.’