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Ramakrishna: Mystical, Erotic, or Both?

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Abstract

The lengthy psychoanalytic discourse on Ramakrishna is traced from Romain Rolland's dialogue with Freud on the spiritual to later uses of applied psychoanalysis by Sudhir Kakar, Jeffrey Masson, and Jeffrey Kripal. Basic problems in applying psychoanalysis to great spiritual figures such as Ramakrishna are illustrated through an analysis of Kripal's Kali's Child. Newer approaches to deal more adequately with the spiritual self and psychopathology are cited.

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Roland, A. Ramakrishna: Mystical, Erotic, or Both?. Journal of Religion and Health 37, 31–36 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022956932676

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