Ramakrishna Paramahansa was a great saint, spiritual teacher and thinker of India. He emphasized on the unity of all religions. Since childhood he believed in seeing God.
He lived a life of rigorous meditation and devotion to attain God. Swami Ramakrishna was a priest of humanity. As a result of his spactice, he came to the conclusion that all the religions of the world are tru and there is no difference among them. They are just different means of reaching God.
He lived a life of rigorous meditation and devotion to attain God. Swami Ramakrishna was a priest of humanity. As a result of his spiritual practice, he came to the conclusion that all the religions of the world are true and there is no difference among them. They are just different means of reaching God.
Biography
Saint Ramakrishna Paramahansa, the nurturer of human values, was born on 18 February 1836 in Kamarpukur village located in Bengal province. His childhood name was Gadadhar. Father’s name was Khudiram and mother’s name was Chandra Devi. According to his devotees, Ramakrishna’s paremts had experienced supernatural events and visions even before his birth. In Gaya, his father Khudiram had a dream in which Lord Gadadhar (incarnation of Vishnu) told him that he would be born as his son. His mother Chandramani Devi also had a similar experience. She saw light entering her owmb in the Shiva temple.
Everyone was mesmerized by his childlike simplicity and mesmerizing smile. He was a supreme spiritual saint.
Family
At the young age of seven, Gadadhar lost his father. In such adverse circumstances, it became difficult to maintain the entire family. Financial difficulties arose. The courage of the boy Gadadhar did not diminish. His elder brother Ramkumar Chattopadhyay was the director of a school in Calcutta (Kolkata). He took Gadadhar with him to Kolkata. Ramakrishna’s heart was very pure, simple and humble. He was far away from narrow-mindedness. Remained busy in his work.
Arrival at dakshineswar
Depite continuous efforts, Ramakrishna could not concentrate on studies and teaching. In 1855 Ramkumar Chattopadhyay, the leder brother of Ramakrishna Paramahansa, was appinted as the chief priest of the Dakshineswar Kali temple (which was built by Rani Rasmani). Ramakrishna and his nephew Hridaya used to help Ramkumar. Rmakrishna was given the responsibility of decorating the goddess statue. After the death of Ramkumar in 1856, Ramakrishna was appinted as the priest in the Kali temple.
After the death of Ramkumar, Sri Ramakrishna started meditating more. They started seeing the idol of Kali Mata as their mother and the mother of the universe. It is said that Shri Ramakrishna had a vision of Kali Mata as the mother of the universe. Ramakrishna describes this and says, “ The house, the gate, the temple and everything disappeared, as if there was nothing at all! And I saw an infinite arrowless ocean of light, it was an ocean of consciousness. In whatever direction I looked. Wherever I looked. only bright waves were visible, which were coming towards me, one after the other.
Marriage
Rumors had spread that Ramakrishna’s mental balance had deteriorated due to his spiritual practice in dakshineswar. It was decided to get Ramakrishna’s mother and his elder brother Rameshwar Ramakrishna married. He believed that after marriage, Gadadhar’s mental balance would be restored and his attention would be diverted from spiritual practice due to the responsibilities that come after marriage. Ramakrishna himself told him that he could find him the house of Ramachandra Mukherjee at Kanya Jayarambati (which is 3 miles north-east of Kamarpukur). In 1859, the marriage of 5 year old Shardamani Mukhopadhyay and 23 year old Ramakrishna took place. After marriage, Sharda lived in Jayrambati and when she turned 18, she started living near Ramakrishna in dakshineswar.
Renunciation and meditation
Later, the elder brother also passed away. He was distressed by this incident. Seeing the impermanence of the world, renunciation arose in his mind. Despite not feeling like it from within, he started worshiping and worshiping Shri Ramakrishna Temple. He started meditating in Panchvati situated in Dakshineswar. He became anxious to see God. People started considering him mad.
Chandramani Devi, worried about her son’s state of madness, married Gadadhar to Sharda Devi. After this Bhairavi Brahmani arrived in Dakshineswar. He taught him Tantra. While sitting in a sweet mood, Thakur had darshan of Shri Krishna. He gained knowledge of Advaita Vedanta from Totapuri Maharaj and attained the state of Jivanmukta. After attaining sannyasa, his new name became Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa.
Arrival of devotees
As time passed, news of his rigorous spiritual practices and accomplishments began to spread rapidly and the temple garden of Dakshineshwar soon became a favorite retreat of devotees and traveling ascetics. Some great schools and famous Vaishbav and Tantric practitioners like Pt. Narayan Shastri, Pt. Padmalochan Tarakalkar, Vaishnavcharan and Gaurikant Tarakbhushan etc. continued to receive spiritual inspiration from him. He soon came into close contact with the well-known thinkers of the time who were leading the ideas in Bengal. Among these, names of Keshavchandra Sen, Vijaykrishna Goswami, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar can be taken. Apart from this, there was a second class of ordinary devotees whose most important persons were Ramchandra Dutt, Girishchandra Ghosh, Balram Bose, Mahendranath Gupta (Master Mahasaya) and Durgacharan Nag.
Illness and late life
and forbade him to take samadhi and talk, he still smiled. Even after being stopped from getting treatment, Vivekananda continued getting treatment. Despite treatment, his health continued to deteriorate.
Ramakrishna Paramahansa started living in a state of samadhi in the last days of his life. Hence the body started becoming loose. He used to laugh at the disciples’ request to pay attention to health as ignorance. His disciples used to call him Thakur. Vivekananda, Ramakrishna’s favorite disciple, wanted to do penance for some time at a secluded place in the Himalayas. When he went to the Guru to seek this permission, Ramakrishna said – Oh, the people of the area around us are suffering from hunger. There is darkness of ignorance all around. Here people keep crying and screaming and you remain immersed in the joy of Samadhi in some cave in the Himalayas. Will your soul accept? Due to this, Vivekananda started serving Daridra Narayan. Ramakrishna was a great yogi, a high level seeker and thinker. Considering the path of service as divine and broad, he saw unity in diversity. Wanted security of society through service. Even when the doctors termed the swelling in the throat as cancer and forbade him to take Samadhi and talk, he still smiled. Even after being stopped from getting treatment, Vivekananda continued getting treatment. Despite treatment, his health continued to deteriorate.
Death
In 1886 AD, Ramakrishna Paramhansa left his body in the morning on Pratipada, the next day of Shravani Purnima. Shortly before the dawn of 16th August, Anandghan Vigraha Sri Ramakrishna left his mortal body and merged into his self through Mahasamadhi.
Sermon and speech
Ramakrishna used to educate people through short stories. His ideas had a tremendous impact on the intellectuals of Calcutta; However, his teachings were not about modermity and national independence. His spiritual movement indirectly helped in increasing the feeling of nationalism in the country, because his teachings reject casteism and religious bias.
According to Ramakrishna, the biggest goal of human life is to attain God. Ramakrishan used to say that Kamini-Kanchan are the biggest obstacles to attaining God. According to the biography of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, he laid special emphasis on spiritual means like penance, satsang and self-study etc. He used to say, “If you wish to attain self-knowledge, then first remove ego. Because until ego is not removed, the veil of ignorance will never be removed. By removing ego through means like penance, satsang, self-study etc. attain knowledge, recognize Brahman.”
Ramakrishna saw the world as an illusion. According to him, Avidya Maya represents the dark powers of creation (like lust, greed, cruelty, selfish action etc.), it keeps humans at a lower level of consciousness. These powers are responsible for binding humans to the cycle of birth and death. The same Vidya Maya is responsible for the good powers of creation (such as selfless actions, spiritual qualities, high ideals, kindness, purity, love and devotion). It takes man to a higher level of consciousness.
