rakshasa: demonic personality.

Rama, or Ramachandra: the seventh incarnation (avatara) of Lord Vishnu, like Krishna.

Ramakrishna (1836–1886): born Gadadhar Chatterjee in a poor brahmin family in Bengal, India. Virtually illeterate, he became a priest at Dakshineswar Kali temple, near Calcutta, where he spent his whole life. He attained God-realization through four different religions (Tantrism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianty), each time meeting the same Absolute God--which prompted him to declare that all religions lead to the same God. His most famous disciple in the West was Swami Vivekananda.

Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950): having experienced conscious death at seventeen, he left his family and became a hermit on the holy mountain of Arunachala in South India. Revered as one of Indian greatest saint, his essential message is to find the Real Self.

rasapurnima: a special spiritual celebration in India which occurs on the full-moon day in the month of August to celebrate the events in Shri Krishna’s childhood in Vrindavan. In Sanskrit, rasa means transformation of the inhabitants of Vrindavan into Krishna, and purnima means the full-moon day.

Ratnakara: a murderer who, through good company, became highly realized and later became known as Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana.

Ravana: the ten-headed demon king, symbolizing the ego, as described in the Ramayana.

Rig Veda: The most ancient Hindu scripture, consisting principally of hymns to various deities.

Rumi (1207–1273). Jalaluddin Rumi was born in Balkh, Persia (modern Afghanistan.) He settled at Konya, Turkey in 1226 where he met his great teacher, Shams-i-Tabriz. One of the greatest Sufi master, poet and mystic of all time, Rumi's works have profoundly influenced and continue to guide countless Muslim and non-Muslim luminaries.