February 18th 1836, Wednesday, A village of Bengal called Kamarpukur witnessed the birth of a child to poor Brahmin parents, who were considered as living sages by the villagers.
The child was named Gadadhar and lived in the simplicity of a village, cows, fields and rural life.
From the very young age Gadadhar would go into a trance on hearing about God, songs and spiritual talks. On his fathers death the family had a bad time and Gadadhar went to Calcutta with his elder brother Ramkumar who had opened a school there.
It was here that Gadadhar came into acquaintance with the modern ideas.
His brother wanted him to have an education as every other boy , but Gadadhar who had already understood that his birth was for a definite purpose and always asked whether he should spent studying material facts or acquire the wisdom that will illumine his heart by which one is satisfied for ever.
It was at this time a very pious lady of immense wealth and influence, Smt Rani Rasamani was on the lookout for a priest to her Kali temple at Dakshineshwar on the east bank of Ganga.
Sree Ramakrishna, the name by which Gadadhar became famous the world over moved with his brother Ramkumar who got appointed as the priest. The proximity of the Ganges, the tranquil atmosphere of the temple and the presence of the Kali , the Divine Mother of the Universe triggered an urge in Ramakrishna for the realization of God.
His thirst for realization was so immense, his sincerity, utter renunciation of worldly matters and devotion cannot be said in words. He had no guidance, no knowledge in scriptures but was pure at heart for the love of divine Mother and became the one passion for Ramakrishna.
Time moved on Ramakrishna yet not realized and the agony of longing for Mother Kali was increasing and he would cry aloud “Days are going in vain for I have not see you Mother “. Doubtful he would ask “is it real or is it not, if you exist why can’t I see you” and he would put more effort into the process of realizing.
As the pain of not realizing became unbearable, Ramakrishna thought of putting an end to his worthless worldly life without the vision of God and seized a sword.
All of a sudden illuminating everything with the splendor the Divine Mother revealed herself and Ramakrishna fell unconscious, after this he became fully intoxicated with God and he was not happy as it was not everlasting and gradually his sense of separation from the Divine Mother vanished and he became her child. Ramakrishna by now completely lost the conscience of the worldly affairs.
At this time he was called back to Kamarpukur as he was suffering from many ailments from the austerities and penance that he had been through and was asked by his Mother to marry and get settled in life. He readily agreed to it as seeing it as the will of the Divine Mother and took Saradhamani as his wife.
During this time he was in extreme sadhana and it was first found out by a renunciated nun and Ramakrishna became her disciple in practicing tantrik rituals. He had so many guides during this period and it was Totapuri a sanyasi of highest vedantic realization came to Dakshineswar and taught Ramakrishna the Advaitha Philosophy.
Under hid guidance Ramakrishna attained the highest nirvikalpa samadhi , a state from which no normal human would return and Ramakrishna was in that state for nearly six months. Totapuri imparted his all knowledge and even being a wandering monk stayed at Dakshineswar for eleven months.
It was at this time people in the village started spreading stories that Ramakrishna had gone mad. Saradhamani went to live with him from the village and found out that Ramakrishna is so loving and her anxiety of the rumors was removed from her mind.
Saradhamani stayed with him to become the first disciple as she was herself a noble soul and they both together traversed the spiritual path. They both looked at each other as God and Guru and later days Sree Ramakrishna used to say , "If Saradhadevi had not been pure and self controlled he would not have achieved the supreme:" And the rest is history, He found a new monastic order firmly established in the consciousness of God , later to become Sri Ramakrishna Mission with the effort of his first few disciples which included Swamy Vivekananda.
During this time Sree Ramakrishna practiced Islam,Christianity and he had the vision of the ultimate at the end of every path and he proclaimed that the end is same but the paths are different.
In the beginning of 1885 Sree Ramakrishna suffered from clergyman's throat which developed into malignant cancer. He was looked after by Saradhadevi and his disciples, With strict advice to maintain silence which he would not listen and spoke with his followers.
It is said that Sree Ramakrishna imparted his knowledge and powers to Swamy Vivekananda and asked him to look after the welfare of the other disciples. Sree Ramakrishna's condition worsened and he annihilated himself into the Divine Mother in the early morning hours of 16th August 1886.
"The boy became a devotee,
The devotee became an ascetic,
The ascetic became the saint,
The saint became the realized,
The realized became the prophet,
The prophet himself became God"
All this happened in a mere twelve years , Thus the humble and loving village boy Gadadhar Chadopadhay came to be known as the Greatest master of the 19th century India has seen, the son of Kali the Divine Mother "SREE RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA" .
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