Ramakrishna Paramahamsa The Spiritual Guru

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Brief History

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was a great spiritual guru who lived in the 19th century. He was the Guru to another spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was born on February 18, 1836, in the village of Kamarpukur,  Hooghly district of West Bengal. His father was Khudiram Chattopadhyay, and his Mother was Chandramani Devi. His family belonged to a poor, pious and Orthodox Brahmin family. Before the birth of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Khudiram had a dream in which Lord Gadhdhara said he would be born as his son. In the meantime, Chandramani Devi also got the same supernatural incident: a vision of light entering her womb from Shiva’s temple. After a few months, a child was born, named Gadadhar. He was the couple’s fourth child, and when he grew up, he became famous as Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.

Sri Ramakrishna was not interested in education since his childhood days. Instead of education, he showed terrific qualities of purity and love. He loved the company of sadhus and was deeply devoted to serving the mother Goddess Kali from a young age. The Spiritual Guru was inspired by the leelas of Lord Krishna and tried to imitate his feats. He seems significantly mature and earned the love of all. Paramahamsa had a good memory in Hindu Mythologies.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Goddess Kali:

When Spiritual guru Ramakrishna was nineteen years old, his elder brother Ram Kumar took him to Dakhineswar to assist in his work as a priest in the temple of Kali—in 1855, Rani Rashmoni of Jambajar offered him as the priest of the Goddess Kali at Dakkhineshwar temple. There the duty of the young priest was to dress and decorate the idol of the Divine Mother Kali. He poured his soul into his daily worship and longed to obtain a vision of the Mother of the Universe.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Marriage With Saradadevi

At 23, Sri Ramakrishna married Saradamoni of Jairambati, whom he thought would be his ideal life companion. She was then five years old, and the couple never led a householder’s life. Later she became the Holy Mother, showering her grace and blessings on the thousands. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was initiated into Vedantic meditation by another spiritual guru Totapuri, a reputed monk who attained oneness with God after forty years of penance. In his first three-day sitting, he remained absorbed in Samadhi, God’s vision. He could neither read nor write, Yet he soon knew the basic teachings of all the sects of Hinduism.

Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda

The Guru got actual religious knowledge through his direct spiritual experience. A significant part of Sri Ramakrishna’s life was spent in training his disciples, among them Swami Vivekananda, Swami Brahmananda, Swami Shivananda, and Swami Saradananda were some of his mission far and wide. Mahendranath Gupta, the faithful disciple, recorded the daily talks and teachings of Rama Krishna and brought the chronicles into a marvellous book. This book gives us the teaching of the great master in a simple and lucid form.

Sri Ramakrishna often went into the Bhava Samadhi and was sometimes inclined to know the truth about human existence. He started Aditya Sadhana and realized God exists in every form of life. On January 17, 1868, he travelled to Varanasi and Vrindavan. He even worshipped Saradadevi in the same way he honoured the Mother Goddess, Shorshi puja.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the spiritual Guru, suffered for some time from throat cancer. Finally, he left his physical body in the year 1886. His spiritual impact on India and the world has been tremendous.