RamakrishnaParamhamsaBiography

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was a highly revered Indian mystic during the 19thcentury.Thisbiographyprofileshischildhood,life,worksandtimeline.

QuickFacts

AlsoKnownAs GadadharChattopadhyay

Famousas Spiritual&ReligiousLeader

Nationality Indian

Religion Hinduism

Bornon 18February1836AD

ZodiacSign Aquarius

Bornin Kamarpukur

Diedon 16August1886AD

Placeofdeath Cossipore

Father KshudiramChattopâdhyâya

Mother ChandramaniDevî

Siblings Rameswar,Ramkumar

Spouse: SaradamaniMukhopadhyaya(laterknownasSaradaDevi)

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ramakrishna.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Ramakrishna.jpg‘If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love ofGod.’ThisquotebyRamakrishnaParamahamsaaptlydescribeshislifeasawhole.AnastutebelieverinGod,hewasoneoftheimmaculatefiguresofthe19thcenturywho played a quintessential role in the Bengali Renaissance. A child prodigy, his

parents experienced spiritual vision while he was in womb and as expected, hestartedexperiencingmysticalandparanormalforceswhilehewasstillaninfant.Allthroughhislife,hewasmentoredbyvariousgurus.WhileBharaviBhaktitaughthimthe Tantra and Vaishnavi bhakti, Totapuri was influential in teaching him theprinciples behind Advaita Vedantin through which he attained the purest form oftrance or nirvikalpa Samadhi. Interestingly, unlike other religious leaders of histime, Ramakrishna was not biased and acknowledged all forms of worship, formand formless and all types of religion. He was of the belief that all religions,whether Hinduism, Islam or Christianity professed and lead to one God. His legacywastakenforwardbyhismostnoteddisciple,SwamiVivekanandawhobecamehissuccessor. Vivekananda immortalized the offerings and teachings of RamakrishnabyestablishingtheRamakrishnaMissionandRamakrishnaMath.

Childhood&Early LifeRamakrishna Paramahamsa was born as Gadadhar Chattopadhyay toKhudiram Chattopâdhyâya and Chandramani Devî on February 18, 1836 inthevillageofKamarpur,intheHooghlydistrictofWestBengal.

Ever since Chandramani conceived him, both she and her husbandexperienced paranormal andmystical experienceswhich confirmed them thatGadadharwouldbenoordinarychild.

Young Gadadhar experienced bouts of spiritual ecstasy right fromtoddlerhood.With time, the trancebecamecommonashe lostconsciousnessandbecameabsorbedbytranscendentalforces.

Asachild,heattainedformalfor12years,butafterthathediscardedtherotelearning,sayinghewasnotinterestedinbread-winningeducation.Heinsteadtook to reading the sacred books and in no time became well-versed withmostofthem.

Thedeathofhis fatherdrewhimclose tohismother.Due to financial crises,he relocated to Calcutta in 1852 to assist his elder brother Ramkumar.Meanwhile, Ramkumar had initiated a Sanskrit school and was involved inpriestlyworkinCalcutta.

Three years later, he served as an assistant to Ramkumar who by thenbecamepriestinDakshineswarKaliTemple.UponthedeathofRamkumar,hetookupthepositionofthepriestatthereligioustempleofKali.

PeriodofReligiousActiv ityMuch against the conventional belief, nothing changed in him post marriageas he resumed his duties at the temple and continued with his sadhana. In1861,heappointedBhairaviBrahmaniashisteacher.

Bhairavi Brahmani is said to have reported that he was experiencingimmaculatedivinitydue tohissupreme love,devotionandonenesswithGod.Sinceshewaswell-versed inGaudiyaVaishnavismandpracticedTantra,shemadehimtakeupTantraaswell.

By1863,he finishedsixty fourmajor tantric sadhanas.Themethod focussedon worshipping the divine as a form of Shakti and liberating the mind, bodyand soul to have an unobstructed vision of the natural world created by the

divinity.

Duringhistantricsadhana,hepracticednumerousritualswhichhelpedinthepurification of themind and establishment of self-control. He even practicedvamachara, kumari-puja and Kundalini Yoga. These techniques taught byBhairavi played a quintessential role in developing the spiritual side of himduringtheearlydays.

He later on became involved in Vaishnava Bhakti which professed theexistence of state of mood, namely, santa or peaceful attitude, dasya or theserving approach, sakya or the friendly behaviour, vatsalya or themotheringnatureandmadhuraortheattitudeofaloverwoman.

In the following years, he started practicing the various bhavasmentioned inVaishanava Bhakti, commenced by Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and SriNityanandaPrabhu.

While in 1864 he practiced vatsalyabhava worshipping the image of LordRama as a child with an attitude of amother, later on, he practicedMadurabhavabecomingGopiandRadhatowardsKrishna.ItwaswhilepracticingthisthatheexperiencedsavikalpaSamadhiorunionwithKrishna.

In 1865, he was mentored by sanyasi, Totapuri. The latter was a nomadicmonk who vouched to train him in Advaita Vedanta, which focused on non-dualism.Duringthetraining,Totapuriguidedhimthroughtheritesofsanyas.

Totapuri taught him the teachings of advaita, which called for renunciationwith the world ties and accepting the presence of a formless un-manifestenergythatsupportsthecosmos.

It was under the guidance of Totapuri that he experienced a deep form oftrance called nirvikalpasamadhi, which is the highest state in spiritualrealisation. It is thecompleteabsorptionof themind,bodyandsoul indivineconsciousness.

In the eleven months of training, his mystical involvements increased. Hereportedly received a word of advice from Goddess Kali to remain inBhavmukha, which was a state in between normal consciousness andSamadhi.

Meanwhile, in 1866, he came in contact with Govinda Roy who practicedSufism.Hebecamesomuch involved in Islam that he starteddislikingHindutraditions and rituals. Theurge towatch the idols ofHinduGodandworshipthemwas replaced aswell. By the end of three days, he had an immaculateexperiencewhereintheProphetmergedintohim.

Similarstateoccurred in1873whenhecame incontactwithShambuCharanMallik, an ardent advocator and practitioner of Christianity.Malik’s influenceonhimcanbegaugedby the fact thathegaveuponvisiting theKali temple.HeexperiencedthevisionwhereinJesusChristmergedwithhisbody.

Within time, his experiences, visions and divination spread and disciplescameinsearchofhimfromvariouswalksoflife.Itwaswiththisthathebeganalifelongtrystinteaching.

While teaching, he did not impose his belief and instead asked his disciples

as to how they conceived God. He explained that god is both form andformless and can appear to a devotee in either ways. He accepted thedifferentapproachestoworshipandtheexistenceofdifferentreligions.

In 1875, his disciple, Keshab Chandra Sen formulated a New Dispensation(NavaVidhan) religiousmovement, which highlightedRamakrishna’sworshipof God as Mother and the fact that all religions were true. He also startedpublishingthelatter ’steachingsinthejournalsofNewDispensation.

Other prominent disciples of this time include Pratap Chandra Mazumdar,ShivanathShastriandTrailokyanathSanyal.Wordspread in thepublicaboutthereformingpowerthatRamakrishnapossessed.

Hiswaysof teachingappealed to theeducatedandhigherclassofpeople inthe society who believed in his description of God as a non-dual formlessessence.Ontheotherhand,hisexceptionalskillattranceappealedtopeoplewithaninterestinyoga.

Major chunk of Indians across the country believed in his Bhakti movementwhich he professed as well. His disciples followed his worshipping ofGoddessKali as a protective and benevolent deity.He often proclaimed thatthose who religiously worshipped could also have vision or dream of theGoddess.

His most prominent disciple Swami Vivekananda was entrusted with thespiritualpowers thathepossessed.HeevenaskedVivekananda to takecareofthedisciplesandbealeadertothem.

PersonalLife &LegacyTheparanormalexperiencesofRamakrishnamadepeoplewary, includinghismotherandbrotherRameswar.Inanefforttomakehimactresponsiblyandasa normalmature adult, they got himmarried toSaradamaniMukhopadhyaya,whowasjustfiveyearsatthetimeofmarriagein1859.

Interestingly,shetoobecameinfluencedbyhisbeliefsandviewsandbecameinvolved inspiritualpractices. Itwasonlywhensheturned18 thatshe joinedhiminDakshineswar.HeworshippedhimasadeityandGoddessKali.

His health gradually declined starting 1885. He suffered from clergyman’sthroat which developed into throat cancer. He was relocated first toShyampukur. However, since his condition aggravated therein, he wastransferredtoCossipore.

He succumbed to the deteriorating health onAugust 16, 1886 at Cossipore.Hisdisciplesproclaimedthathehadachievedmahasamadhi.

Following his death, his sanyasi or monastic disciples led by SwamiVivekanandaformedafellowshipatahalf-ruinedhouseatBaranagarneartheriver Ganges. With financial aid from household disciples, they formed thefirstRamakrishnaOrder,todayknownasRamakrishnaMathandRamakrishnaMission.

With the establishment of Ramakrishna Vedanta Society in 1923,RamakrishnaSaradaMathin1929,SriSaradaMathandRamakrishnaSaradaMission in 1959 and Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission in 1976, his legacy

continuestothrive.

Triv iaHeprovidedspiritualenlightenment to thepeopleofBengalandplayedakeyrole in the social reform movement in Bengal in 19th century. His discipleSwami Vivekananda later took his legacy forward introducing Vedanta andYogatowesternworld.