A Short Life Of Swami Vivekananda

A SHORT LIFEOFSRI RAMAKRISHNASWAMI TEJASANANDA(Publication Department)5 Dehi Entally RoadCalcutta 700 014

Published bySwami MumukshanandaPresident, Advaita AshramaMayavati, Pithoragarh, Himalayasfrom its Publication Department, Calcutta All Rights ReservedFifteenth Impression, October 19963M3CISBN 81-7505-072-1Printed in India atGipidi Box Co.3B Chatu Babu LaneCalcutta 700 014

PREFACEThis is in response to a great demand for ashorter biography of Sri Ramakrishna whosemessage is spreading far and wide with everincreasing rapidity. The matter is taken mostly fromthe Life of Sri Ramakrishna, published by us, thoughother available books have been consulted and theplan is quite different. A few sayings of SriRamakrishna have been given towards the end ofthe book, so that a complete picture of the Mastercan be had, as far as possible, within a smallcompass. We hope this short volume will arouse inmany readers an interest for studying the life of SriRamakrishna in detail.Advaita AshramaMayavatiFebruary 13, 1940PUBLISHER

IIIXIVXVXVIXVIIXVIIIINTRODUCTORYPARENTAGEBIRTH AND BOYHOODIN THE TEMPLE-GARDEN OFDAKSHINESWARTHE DIVINE MOTHERGOD-INTOXICATIONBHAIRAVI BRAHMANI AND AVAISHNAVA SAINTONE WITH THE ABSOLUTETRAVELLING INTO OTHER FAITHSFINDING DIVINITY IN THE WIFEPILGRIMAGECONTACT WITH SOME NOTABLESTHE COMING OF THE DEVOTEESMONASTIC DISCIPLESWOMEN DEVOTEESLAST DAYSEND OF THE DRAMAAFTER THE PASSINGSOME SAYINGS232835465462697479859197100107117122

IINTRODUCTORYThe history of a nation is not made in a day. Itis the result of centuries of silent working of manifold creative forces. It is in this way that the distinctive culture of a nation is formed. The historyof India proves that a nation which stands loyal toits cultural traditions can never die.Religion is the backbone of Indian nationallife. From the hoary past India has passed throughnumberless vicissitudes. That she has survived themis due to the fact that the nation has remained trueto its spiritual instinct. At every time of spiritualcrisis in Indian national life there has been born asaint or a prophet who has saved the nation fromthe impending danger. Sri Krishna, Buddha,Shankara, Nanak, Chaitanya—each fulfilled a greatdemand of the age in which he was born.The nineteenth century saw India faced witha great crisis. With the British conquest of Indiacame the invasion of Western civilization upon thecountry. Awed by the material power of theconquering nation, Indians hailed everything

8SRI RAMAKRISHNAWestern as a thing to be welcomed. In the meanwhile Christianity—one of the greatest proselytizing religions of the world—began to work silentlyfor a thorough cultural conquest of the land.At this psychological moment appeared SriRamakrishna, the embodiment of the spirit ofIndia’s culture and religion. He opened the eyes ofthe Indians to the beauty, grandeur, and strengthof Hinduism at a time when their faith in it hadgreatly slackened. His life stood as a bulwarkagainst those alien forces which attempted toundermine the spirit of Indian civilization.Sri Ramakrishna was born not only to saveHinduism from a dire calamity, but also, as it were,to resuscitate all faiths. As a result of his havingpractised other religions besides his own anddirectly experiencing all to be true, any manbelonging to any religion will find his faith in hisown system strengthened. As such Sri Ramakrishna’s life is sure to stem the tide of the generaldisbelief in religion all the world over. Already theinfluence of his spiritual realizations has travelledabroad. Who will doubt that it will gather strengthas years roll on? For Sri Ramakrishna representednot only Hinduism but all faiths.

IIPARENTAGETowards the middle of the eighteenth centurythere lived in the village of Derepore in the Districtof Hooghly, Bengal, a Brahmin family of whichManik Ram Chattopadhyaya was the head. He wasa pious and kind-hearted man. With fifty acres ofland at his disposal, he was able to meet the needsof his family as also to lend a helping hand to thepoor and distressed of the village in times ofcalamity. In about 1775 he was blessed with a sonwho was named Khudiram. Two other sons and adaughter were also subsequently born to him. Afterthe death of Manik Ram, the entire charge of thefamily devolved on his eldest son, Khudiram, who,trained in the family traditions of an orthodoxhouse, was eminently fitted to attend to the manifold religious and secular duties of the household.Both Khudiram and his wife, Srimati Chandramani,were exceptionally devoted to their tutelary deitySri Ramachandra, and soon earned the love,respect, and admiration of the villagers for theircharity, truthfulness, and kindness.

10SRI RAMAKRISHNAIn 1814 an incident of the great importanceoccurred in the life of Khudiram. He was calledupon by the local zamindar to give false evidencein support of a case which the latter had broughtagainst one of his tenants. But so fearless wasKhudiram’s integrity that he was prepared to stakehis all rather than deviate an inch from the path oftruth and rectitude. His stout refusal to comply withthe request of the landlord entailed on him in itsturn a heavy persecution which ultimately led himto leave his ancestral house for good. Penniless andhomeless, Khudiram bade adieu to Derepore andmade his new home in a neighbouring villagenamed Kamarpukur, where, through thebenevolence of one of his friends, he got half anacre of very fertile land, which supplied the simpleneeds of the family.The village of Kamarpukur is situated in thewestern extremity of the District of Hooghly, onthe road leading to the holy place of Puri orJagannath. The village was highly prosperous andnoted for its manifold arts and crafts. Theflourishing condition of the place is even nowtestified to by the debris of its old buildings andthe ruins of great walls and temples as also by theexistence of some large tanks. Khudiram began hislife anew in the midst of the quiet and peacefulsurroundings of this village, and soon attracted thenotice and gained the respect of his neighbours.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA11One day, while returning from a neighbouringvillage, Khudiram strangely came into possessionof the emblem of his tutelary deity Raghuvir in apaddy field. He took it home and began to worshipit as his own Ishta. Both Khudiram and Chandramade a profound impression upon the villagers bytheir exemplary life and unswerving spirit ofdevotion to their beloved deity as also by theiroverflowing kindness to all who came to their doorfor help and succour. Thus though the home ofKhudiram never smiled in affluence, it was a sourceof great solace to many an aching heart.After six years’ residence in Kamarpukur,Khudiram got his son and daughter married. Ramkumar, which was the name of the son, in the meanwhile had become quite proficient in Hindu lore,and was able to relieve, to a certain extent, hisfather ’s family burden by earning something. SoKhudiram had now more time at his disposal todevote himself to religious practices. In the year1824 he went on foot on a pilgrimage toRameshwaram in South India, which lasted abouta year. Twelve months later, in 1826, his wifeChandra gave birth to her second son, who wasnamed Rameshwar. About eleven years later, in1835, Khudiram went on another pilgrimage—thistime to Gaya. Here, after the performance of thesacred rites, he had a strange vision at night. Hedreamt that he was in the temple of Vishnu, where

12SRI RAMAKRISHNAhis forefathers were feasting on the sacred offeringshe had made. Suddenly a flood of celestial lightfilled the holy precincts of the shrine, and the spiritsof the departed fell on their kness to pay homage toa Divine Presence seated on a throne. The effulgentOne beckoned to Khudiram, who, coming near,prostrated himself before Him and heard theluminous Person saying, ‘I am well pleased at yoursincere devotion. I shall be born in your cottageand accept you as my father.’ Khudiram awoke withhis heart thrilled with joy. He understood that aDivine Being would bless his house very soon.About the same time Chandra Devi was alsohaving strange visions at Kamarpukur. One nightshe dreamt that a luminous person exactly like herhusband was lying by her side. Another day, whilestanding with Dhani (a village blacksmith woman)before the Shiva temple adjacent to her house,Chandra saw a bright beam of divine effulgencedart from the image of Lord Shiva and enter her.Chandra was overpowered, and fell unconsciouson the ground. Dhani nursed her back toconsciousness, but from that time Chandra beganto feel as if she were quick with child. OnKhudiram’s return to Kamarpukur, Chandranarrated this event to her husband with hercharacteristic candour and simplicity. ButKhudiram, who had already had the strange visionat Gaya, was now completely convinced that they

SRI RAMAKRISHNA13were soon to be blessed with a divine child. Headvised her not to speak of her visions to any one.Chandra was greatly consoled, and passed her daysin complete resignation to the will of Raghuvir.

IIIBIRTH AND BOYHOODThe blessed hour for which Khudiram andChandra were anxiously waiting at last drew near.In the early hours of the morning of February 18,1836, Chandra gave birth to a boy whom the worldwas to know afterwards by the name of SriRamakrishna. Learned astrologers predicted a greatfuture for the child, and Khudiram was overjoyedthat the prospective greatness of his son confirmedhis previous vision and the experience of Chandra.He named him Gadadhar in memory of hiswonderful dream at Gaya.Since his very birth Gadadhar cast a spell offascination not only over his parents and relativesbut also over his neighbours, who could not helppaying visit to Khudiram’s house whenever possible just to have a look at ‘Gadai’—as he was lovingly called.The years rolled on, and Gadadhar was nowfive years old. He began to show wonderfulintelligence and memory even at this early age. Theprecocious boy learnt by heart the names of his

SRI RAMAKRISHNA15ancestors, the hymns to various gods andgoddesses, and tales from the great national epics.As he grew to be very restless, Khudiram sent himto the village school. At school Gadadhar made fairprogress, but he showed great distaste formathematics. He directed all his attention to thestudy of the lives and characters of spiritual heroes.Constant study of those subjects often made himforgetful of the world and threw him into deepmeditation. As he grew older, he began to havetrances whenever his religious feelings wereroused. Soon it was found that not only religioussubjects but beautiful scenery or some touchingincident was also sufficient to make him losehimself. Once an occurrence of this kind causedgreat anxiety to his parents and relatives. SriRamakrishna in later years narrated this incidentto his devotees in the following way:‘In that part of the country (that is, Kamarpukur) the boys are given puffed rice for snack.This they carry in small wicker baskets, or, if theyare too poor, in a corner of their cloth. Then they goout for play on the roads or in the fields. One dayin June or July, when I was six or seven years old, Iwas walking along a narrow path separating paddyfields, eating some of the puffed rice which I wascarrying in a basket. Looking up at the sky I saw abeautiful sombre thunder cloud. As it spreadrapidly enveloping the whole sky, a flock of snow-