Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
Life History of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was one of the leading Hindu spiritual leaders of the country. His teachings are still deeply followed by all the people.
Let us look closely at the life of a great personality who gave spiritual knowledge to the people of Bengal and played a key role in the social reform movement in Bengal.
Ramakrishna’s original name was Gadadhar Chattopadhyay. He was born on February 18 in 1836, in the village of Kamarpukur. It is now considered the Hooghly district of West Bengal. Ramakrishna’s parents were Khudiram and Chandramani. He was born into a poor family and his parents weren’t able to make both ends meet. Ramakrishna did not show much interest in education and especially to go to school. He was also not interested in the hunt for money. Ramakrishna was a nature lover and liked meeting monks.
Right from his childhood, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was an atheist. At his induction ceremony also referred to as Upanayana, he shocked everyone when he announced that he would have his first gift as a Brahmin from a Sudra woman of the village. No other disputes or appeals were able to move him from his position. Finally, his eldest brother Ramkumar and the head of the family after the passing away of their father gave in.
Ramkumar ran a Sanskrit school in Calcutta now called Kolkata and also served as a priest in some families. During this time, a rich woman of Calcutta, Rani Rashmoni, established a temple at Dakshineswar. She requested Ramkumar to serve as a priest at the temple of Maha Kali and Ramkumar agreed. Ramakrishna adorned the deity and when Ramkumar got retired, Chattopadhyay took his place as priest of the temple.
When Ramakrishna started worshipping the idol Goddess Bhavatarini, he started to question if he was worshipping a piece of stone or a living Goddess. This question kept him disturbed day and night. He prayed to Goddess Maha Kali to reveal Herself to him. One day he was so impatient to see Maha Kali that he decided to end his life for her darshan. He held a sword hanging on the wall and was about to strike himself with it when he has come to have seen light coming from the goddess in the form of waves. He got overwhelmed by the waves of the diety and fell unconscious on the floor. Ramakrishna prayed to Goddess Maha Kali for more religious experiences and he is considered to have experienced a number of them.
Soon Ramakrishna became popular with his spiritual talks and drawn by the charm of Sri Ramakrishna’s divine personality, people gathered to him from far and near places. People of all ages, caste, and creeds visited him to get spiritually enlightened. His small room in the Dakshineswara temple garden became an absolute gathering of religions in Calcutta.
Ramakrishna insisted that God-realisation is the principal goal of all people. According to him, religion served as a means for the completion of this goal. Ramakrishna’s mystical understanding, classified by Hindu tradition as constant meditation), led him to believe that various religions are various ways to reach God and that the Final Reality could never be expressed in human terms and cannot be understood.
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa taught his beliefs for fifteen years about the basic truths of religion through stories, comparisons, songs and by his own life. In the year 1886, he developed throat cancer and took his last breath on August 16, leaving behind a loyal band of 16 young followers headed by the well-known saint, a great philosopher, and an orator, Swami Vivekananda.
This article dealt with the life history of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. His ideas are never forgotten, his thoughts remain forever in the sacred scripts. Hope you enjoyed reading the history of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Do consider reading our other articles on Famous Hindu Personalities.
