 Sri
Ramakrishna was born as Gadadhar Chatterjee in
February 1836 at Kamarpukur in Hooghly district.
His father, Khudiram, a poor but highly respected
Brahmin who made both ends meet with difficulty
by working at odd jobs open to his caste, originally
lived at Deria, two miles from Kamarapukur, but
had to leave that village because he had offended
the local zamindar by refusing to give false evidence
on his behalf in a lawsuit. The zamindar began
to persecute him so much that he had finally to
leave the village and came over to Kamarapukur
where a friend gave him some land to build a house
on and to farm. It was here that Sri Ramakrishna
was born.
As a boy, Sri Ramakrishna enjoyed the love and
affection of the entire village. He had good looks
and fine artistic gifts. He sang well, mimicked
to perfection those who gave themselves airs,
acted and sculptured like a real master. For his
age, he was also unusually wise and clever. Once
in a debate scholars had reached a dead end, trying
to find a solution to a philosophical problem.
Sir Ramakrishna shyly offered a commonsense solution,
which everybody hailed as the best. He was also
extremely sensitive to natural beauty. He once
saw a line of white cranes flying against dark
monsoon clouds. This so excited him that he fell
down unconscious on the ground.
Sri Ramakrishna was duly sent to school, but he
did not like the environment there. He particularly
disliked the idea that one should learn only to
earn money. He often neglected going to school
and soon dropped out altogether. He, instead,
spent his time visiting monks who often halted
at Kamarpukur on their way to Puri. He loved to
do them small personal services and listen to
their talks and songs. Sometimes he borrowed their
monastic robes and put them on.
Khudiram died when Sri Ramakrishna was seven.
This brought about a marked change in Sri Ramakrishna.
He became now thoughtful and reserved. Soon, the
time came when he should have his sacred thread.
While preparations were going on for this, he
created a crisis by demanding that his nurse-maid,
a widow of an inferior caste, be allowed to give
him the first alms as a Brahmin. This was against
caste rules, but because he was adamant, the family
had to give in.
We next see Sri Ramakrishna in Calcutta living
with his elder brother, Ramkumar, and making half-hearted
efforts to study and earn money. Shortly after
this, when Ramkumar was appointed a priest at
the Kali temple of Dakshineswar founded by Rani
Rashmoni, Sri Ramakrishna joined him as his assistant
at the request of Rani Rashmoni and her son-in-law,
Mathur. Later, when Ramkumar died, he took over
as the priest.
While he worshipped at the Kali temple, the thought
struck him :”What proof is there that Kali
is not merely an idol? Others may have seen Her,
but I have not. How do I know then that She exists
at all?” He then began to pray day and night
asking that Mother Kali appear before him. He
hardly ever ate or slept. He rolled on the ground
crying like a child and rubbing his mouth on the
earth till it bled. Passers-by thought he was
crying because he had lost his mother. One day
he was so impatient for a vision of Mother Kali
that he decided to commit suicide. He seized a
sword and was about to strike himself with it
when he felt as if a vast sea of light was surging
towards him and was about to overwhelm him. In
the midst of this light Mother appeared and held
him by the hand. Sri Ramakrishna fell down unconscious
on the ground. After that time, he had visions
of the Mother whenever he wished. He always felt
Mother was looking after him and he had nothing
to worry about.
But he was not to be content with this. He wanted
to know God as many ways as possible. He did not
want any secret of religion left unknown, any
peak in religious experience left unscaled. He
asked Mother to help him in his religious adventures.
Mother too was most obliging, for competent teachers
began to arrive as and when he needed them. With
their help he was able to make whatever experiments
he wished to make with religion. He tried even
those bizarre ones which people usually shun.
The interesting point is that he succeeded with
each one of them, and that within the shortest
possible time. The last experiment he was to make
within the Hindu fold was with non-dualistic Vedanta.
This is considered most difficult and, according
to some, the culmination of all religious experience.
This, too, Sri Ramakrishna completed with equal
ease and speed.
He now turned to other religions-for instance,
Islam and Christianity.
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He practised both under
expert teachers. When he practised them, he stopped
visiting temples or saying Hindu prayers. For
all practical purposes, he was no longer a Hindu.
Finally, he had visions of Mohammed and Christ
who, he felt, merged into his being.
Sri Ramakrishna did not stop even here. Whenever
he heard of a new religious movement, he took
the earliest opportunity to meet its exponents
and study it. This was what brought him into contact
with Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, Keshab Chandra
Sen, Swami Dayananda, Vijaykrishna Goswami and
other religious leaders of the time. He had this
passion to study new methods of God-realisation
throughout his life. He did not reject a religious
thought or practice just because it was new.
He considered every sincere attempt to realise
God valid and gave it due respect. On this question
he cited the example of people’s food-habits.
All people, he argued, do not like the same kind
of food, for their tastes differ and so also their
capacities for digestion. The same phenomenon
is observed in the case of religion also. Here,
too, people have their different tastes and requirements.
It is therefore wrong to insist that all must
follow the same method. So far as he was concerned,
he used all methods with equal facility.
Sri Ramakrishna had remained indifferent to worldly
affairs till now. His mother felt greatly concerned
about him, but did not know what to do. Some neighbours
suggested that he might improve if he got married.
She accordingly began to look for a suitable bride.
Sri Ramkrishna himself began to take much interest
in the affair and even mentioned who was his bride-designate.
This turned out to be Sarada, the six-year old
daughter of Ramachandra Mukherjee of Jayrambati,
three miles from Kamarpukur. Sri Rmakrishna was
then twenty-three years.
After the marriage, Sri Ramakarishna returned
to Dakshineswar and plunged into his spiritual
experiments again. He behaved as if he had forgotten
all about Sarada. When Sarada came there on her
own after some years, he asked her, “Have
you come here to drag me into worldly life?”
Sarada’s firm reply was, “Far from it;
I have come to help you.” This made Sri Ramakrishna
extremely happy. He began to treat her with great
affection and taught her various techniques of
realising God. She became, in fact, his first
disciple. He trained her so that she might herself
be a spiritual leader later in her own right.
Soon word went round about Sri Ramakrishna’s
unusual life and character. People of all faiths
and communities began to come to him to share
his spiritual wisdom. Many among those who visited
him were English-educated people. Those who came
once, came again and again. They were struck by
his wisdom, humility, indifference to worldly
possessions and love of God.
The top people of Calcutta became his friends
and admirers. Although many people came to him,
they were not the kind of people Sri Ramakrishna
really cared for. He was looking for young men
whom the world had not yet trained and who were
ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of
God. Such young men did come. They are now well-known
names in the religious history of the world.
The most important of them was Naredranath Dutta,
later famous and respected throughout the world
as Swami Vivekananda.
Sri Ramakrishna passed away in August 1886.
His disciples headed by Swami Vivekananda founded
a monastery, which first occupied a rented house
in Calcutta but was later shifted to its permanent
site at Belurmath on the Ganges. Swami Vivekananda
attended the Parliament of Religions held at
Checago in the U. S. A. in 1893 and spoke on
Hindusim. He immediately became world-famous.
When he came back to India after teaching religion
for four years in the West, he was given a hero’s
welcome. His success in the West was interpreted
by his countrymen as the success of Indian culture
and civilisation. The real renaissance began
in India after this.
What exactly did Sri Ramakrishna teach? Did
he teach a new religion? He did not. He accepted
all existing creeds and dogmas, but pointed
out that none of them represents the ultimate
truth, which is beyond all creeds and dogmas.
Sri Ramakrishna taught that God-realisation
is the only goal of life. Money, power, position,
etc.-all these may be desirable, but they cannot
give real happiness to man. Only when man becomes
one with God does he achieve lasting peace and
happiness. He asked men never to lose sight
of this supreme goal of life.
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