|
Ramakrishna, Sri (1836-1886) Hindu reformer and
humanist, was born on 18 February, 1836 in a Brahmin family of modest
means in the village of Kamarpukur in hughli
district. His parents, Khudiram Chattopadhyaya and Chandra
Devi, named him Gadadhar, one of the names of Lord vishnu,
although he came to be known eventually as 'Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa',
his monastic name.
A gifted child with a prodigious memory, Sri Ramakrishna had
little formal education. He learnt from his father hymns addressed
to the divinities, from village kathaks or story tellers
the stories of the ramayana,
the mahabharata,
and the puranas,
and from Puri-bound passing holy men sacred lore.
In 1852, Sri Ramakrishna moved to Kolkata, but his distaste for
worldly pursuits continued. He was appointed priest at the Kali
temple at Dakshineswar, founded by Rani Rashmani, in 1856.
|
|
Sri Ramakrishna |
His education, he claimed, began at the hands of the
goddess, from whom he learnt about the oneness of all deities. During
his 12-year-long tapasya (meditation), he had two other teachers,
Bhairavi Brahmoni and Totapuri, from who he learnt Tantric sadhana
and Vedantic sadhana respectively. He also learnt the Vaisnava
mode of sadhana.
Not content with the Hindu ways of sadhana, Sri Ramakrishna studied islam and christianity. He did not fit the role of the traditional ascetic and neither looked nor dressed like them. He also married a woman named Sarada Devi, whom he actually worshipped as a goddess. He tried to unite all religions by showing that the realisation of God was the only goal of life and that different religions were only different paths leading to the same ultimate goal, God. Sri Ramakrishna died in August 1886, leaving behind a group of dedicated young sannyasin disciples who later organised themselves into the Ramakrishna Order, the chief of whom was Narendranath Datta, later famous as swami vivekananda. [Anil Baran Ray]
Bibliography W
Harold French, The Swan's Wide Waters: Ramakrishna and Western Calcutta,
Port Washington, New York, USA, 1974; Hixon, Lex, Great Swan: Meeting
with Ramakrishna, Shambala Publications, Boston & London, 1992; Isherwood,
Christopher, Ramakrishna and His Disciples, Calcutta, 1980; F Max
Muller, Ramakrishna: His Life and Sayings, Calcutta, 1988; Swami
Saradananda, Sri Ramakrishna: The Great Master, Mylapore, Madras,
1952; Richard Schiffman, Sri Ramakrishna: A Prophet For The New Age,
New York, USA, 1989.
|
