Ramakrishna
Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar
Born	(1836-02-18)18 February 1836 Kamarpukur, West Bengal, India
Died	16 August 1886(1886-08-16) (aged 50) Garden House in Cossipore
Birth name	Gadadhar Chattopadhyay
Titles/honours	Paramahansa
Prominent Disciple(s)	Swami Vivekananda
Quotation	He is born in vain, who having attained the human birth, so difficult to get, does not attempt to realise God in this very life.[1]
** Ramakrishna's birthday is observed on Phalgun Shukla Dwitiya as per Hindu lunar calendar.

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Ramakrishna (pronounced: IPA: [Ramkṛiṣṇo Pôromôhongśo]  listen (help·info)) (18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886), born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay^[2] (IPA: [Gôdadhor Chôṭṭopaddhae]), was a famous mystic of 19th-century India.^[3] His religious school of thought led to the formation of the Ramakrishna Mission by his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda^[4][5][6][7] – both were influential figures in the Bengali Renaissance^[8] as well as the Hindu renaissance during the 19th and 20th centuries.^[9][10][11] Many of his disciples and devotees believe he was an Avatar or incarnation of God.^[12] He is also referred to as "Paramahamsa" by his devotees, as such he is popularly known as Ramkrishna Paramhamsa.

Ramakrishna was born in a poor Brahmin Vaishnava family in rural Bengal. He became a priest of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple, dedicated to the goddess Kali, which had the influence of the main strands of Bengali bhakti tradition.^[2] The most widely known amongst his first spiritual teachers was an ascetic woman skilled in Tantra and Vaishnava bhakti.^[13] Later an Advaita Vedantin ascetic taught him non-dual meditation, and according to Ramakrishna, he experienced nirvikalpa samadhi under his guidance. Ramakrishna also experimented with other religions, notably Islam and Christianity, and said that they all lead to the same God.^[2] Though he quit conventional education, he attracted the attention of the middle class, upper middle class and numerous Bengali intellectuals.^{[citation needed]}

Biography[link]

Birth and childhood[link]

Ramakrishna was born on 18 February 1836, in the village of Kamarpukur, in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, into a very poor but pious, orthodox brahmin family.^[14] Located far from the railroad, Kamarpukur was untouched by the glamour of the city and contained rice fields, tall palms, royal banyans, a few lakes, and two cremation grounds.^[15] His parents were Kshudiram Chattopâdhyâya and Chandramani Devî. According to his followers, Ramakrishna's parents experienced supernatural incidents, visions before his birth. His father Khudiram had a dream in Gaya in which Lord Gadadhara (a form of Vishnu), said that he would be born as his son. Chandramani Devi is said to have had a vision of light entering her womb from Shiva's temple.^[16][17]

The small house at Kamarpukur where Ramakrishna lived (centre). The family shrine is on the left, birthplace temple on the right

Ramakrishna attended a village school with some regularity for 12 years,^[18] he later rejected the traditional schooling saying that he was not interested in a "bread-winning education".^[19][20][21] Kamarpukur, being a transit-point in well-established pilgrimage routes to Puri, brought him into contact with renunciates and holy men.^[22] He became well-versed in the Puranas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Bhagavata Purana, hearing them from wandering monks and the Kathaks—a class of men in ancient India who preached and sang the Purāṇas.^[20][23] He could read and write in Bengali.^[20] While the official biographies write that the name Ramakrishna was given by Mathura Biswas—chief patron at Dakshineswar Kali Temple, it has also been suggest that this name was given by his own parents.^[24]

Ramakrishna describes his first spiritual ecstasy at the age of six: while walking along the paddy fields, a flock of white cranes flying against a backdrop of dark thunder clouds caught his vision. He reportedly became so absorbed by this scene that he lost outward consciousness and experienced indescribable joy in that state.^[25][26] Ramakrishna reportedly had experiences of similar nature a few other times in his childhood—while worshipping the goddess Vishalakshi, and portraying god Shiva in a drama during Shivaratri festival. From his tenth or eleventh year on, the trances became common, and by the final years of his life, Ramakrishna's samādhi periods occurred almost daily.^[26][27]

Ramakrishna's father died in 1843, after which time family responsibilities fell on his elder brother Ramkumar. This loss drew him closer to his mother, and he spent his time in household activities and daily worship of the household deities and became more involved in contemplative activities such as reading the sacred epics.^[28] When Ramakrishna was in his teens, the family's financial position worsened. Ramkumar started a Sanskrit school in Calcutta and also served as a priest. Ramakrishna moved to Calcutta in 1852 with Ramkumar to assist in the priestly work.^[14][20][29]

Priest at Dakshineswar Kali Temple[link]

Dakshineswar Kāli Temple, where Ramakrishna spent a major portion of his adult life.

Bhavatārini Kali, the deity that Ramakrishna worshipped.

In 1855 Ramkumar was appointed as the priest of Dakshineswar Kali Temple, built by Rani Rashmoni—a rich woman of Calcutta who belonged to the kaivarta community.^[30] Ramakrishna, along with his nephew Hriday, became assistants to Ramkumar, with Ramakrishna given the task of decorating the deity. When Ramkumar died in 1856, Ramakrishna took his place as the priest of the Kali temple.^[31]

After Ramkumar's death Ramakrishna became more contemplative. He began to look upon the image of the goddess Kali as his mother and the mother of the universe. Ramakrishna reportedly had a vision of the goddess Kali as the universal Mother,^[14] which he described as "... houses, doors, temples and everything else vanished altogether; as if there was nothing anywhere! And what I saw was an infinite shoreless sea of light; a sea that was consciousness. However far and in whatever direction I looked, I saw shining waves, one after another, coming towards me."^[32]

Marriage[link]

Sarada Devi (1853–1920), wife and spiritual counterpart of Ramakrishna

Rumors spread to Kamarpukur that Ramakrishna had become unstable as a result of his spiritual exercises at Dakshineswar. Ramakrishna's mother and his elder brother Rameswar decided to get Ramakrishna married, thinking that marriage would be a good steadying influence upon him—by forcing him to accept responsibility and to keep his attention on normal affairs rather than his spiritual practices and visions.^[33] Ramakrishna reportedly mentioned that they could find the bride at the house of Ramchandra Mukherjee in Jayrambati, three miles to the north-west of Kamarpukur. The five-year-old bride, Saradamani Mukhopadhyaya (later known as Sarada Devi) was found and the marriage was duly solemnised in 1859.^[34] Ramakrishna was 23 at this point, but the age difference was typical for 19th century rural Bengal.^[35] They later spent three months together in Kamarpukur. Sarada Devi was fourteen while Ramakrishna was thirty-two. Ramakrishna became a very influential figure in Sarada’s life, and she became a strong follower of his teachings. After the marriage, Sarada stayed at Jayrambati and joined Ramakrishna in Dakshineswar at the age of 18.^[36]

By the time his bride joined him, Ramakrishna had already embraced the monastic life of a sannyasi; as a result, the marriage was never consummated.^[33][37] As a priest Ramakrishna performed the ritual ceremony—the Shodashi Puja–where Sarada Devi was made to sit in the seat of goddess Kali, and worshiped as the Divine mother.^[38] Ramakrishna regarded Sarada as the Divine Mother in person, addressing her as the Holy Mother, and it was by this name that she was known to Ramakrishna's disciples. Sarada Devi outlived Ramakrishna by 34 years and played an important role in the nascent religious movement.^[37][39]