A Short Life Story of Shri Ramkrishna

A SHORT LIFE
OF
SRI RAMAKRISHNA
SWAMI TEJASANANDA
(Publication Department)
5 Dehi Entally Road
Calcutta 700 014

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Published by
Swami Mumukshananda
President, Advaita Ashrama
Mayavati, Pithoragarh, Himalayas
from its Publication Department, Calcutta
© All Rights Reserved
Fifteenth Impression, October 1996
3M3C
ISBN 81-7505-072-1
Printed in India at
Gipidi Box Co.
3B Chatu Babu Lane
Calcutta 700 014

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PREFACE
This is in response to a great demand for a
shorter biography of Sri Ramakrishna whose
message is spreading far and wide with ever-
increasing rapidity. The matter is taken mostly from
the Life of Sri Ramakrishna, published by us, though
other available books have been consulted and the
plan is quite different. A few sayings of Sri
Ramakrishna have been given towards the end of
the book, so that a complete picture of the Master
can be had, as far as possible, within a small
compass. We hope this short volume will arouse in
many readers an interest for studying the life of Sri
Ramakrishna in detail.
Advaita Ashrama
PUBLISHER
Mayavati
February 13, 1940

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CONTENTS
Chapter
Page
I INTRODUCTORY
7
II PARENTAGE
9
III BIRTH AND BOYHOOD
14
IV IN THE TEMPLE-GARDEN OF
DAKSHINESWAR
23
V THE DIVINE MOTHER
28
VI GOD-INTOXICATION
35
VII BHAIRAVI BRAHMANI AND A
VAISHNAVA SAINT
46
VIII ONE WITH THE ABSOLUTE
54
IX TRAVELLING INTO OTHER FAITHS
62
X FINDING DIVINITY IN THE WIFE
69
XI PILGRIMAGE
74
XII CONTACT WITH SOME NOTABLES
79
XIII THE COMING OF THE DEVOTEES
85
XIV MONASTIC DISCIPLES
91
XV WOMEN DEVOTEES
97
XVI LAST DAYS
100
XVII END OF THE DRAMA
107
XVIII AFTER THE PASSING
117
SOME SAYINGS
122

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I
INTRODUCTORY
The history of a nation is not made in a day. It
is the result of centuries of silent working of mani-
fold creative forces. It is in this way that the dis-
tinctive culture of a nation is formed. The history
of India proves that a nation which stands loyal to
its cultural traditions can never die.
Religion is the backbone of Indian national
life. From the hoary past India has passed through
numberless vicissitudes. That she has survived them
is due to the fact that the nation has remained true
to its spiritual instinct. At every time of spiritual
crisis in Indian national life there has been born a
saint or a prophet who has saved the nation from
the impending danger. Sri Krishna, Buddha,
Shankara, Nanak, Chaitanya—each fulfilled a great
demand of the age in which he was born.
The nineteenth century saw India faced with
a great crisis. With the British conquest of India
came the invasion of Western civilization upon the
country. Awed by the material power of the
conquering nation, Indians hailed everything

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8
SRI RAMAKRISHNA
Western as a thing to be welcomed. In the mean-
while Christianity—one of the greatest proselytiz-
ing religions of the world—began to work silently
for a thorough cultural conquest of the land.
At this psychological moment appeared Sri
Ramakrishna, the embodiment of the spirit of
India’s culture and religion. He opened the eyes of
the Indians to the beauty, grandeur, and strength
of Hinduism at a time when their faith in it had
greatly slackened. His life stood as a bulwark
against those alien forces which attempted to
undermine the spirit of Indian civilization.
Sri Ramakrishna was born not only to save
Hinduism from a dire calamity, but also, as it were,
to resuscitate all faiths. As a result of his having
practised other religions besides his own and
directly experiencing all to be true, any man
belonging to any religion will find his faith in his
own system strengthened. As such Sri Rama-
krishna’s life is sure to stem the tide of the general
disbelief in religion all the world over. Already the
influence of his spiritual realizations has travelled
abroad. Who will doubt that it will gather strength
as years roll on? For Sri Ramakrishna represented
not only Hinduism but all faiths.

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II
PARENTAGE
Towards the middle of the eighteenth century
there lived in the village of Derepore in the District
of Hooghly, Bengal, a Brahmin family of which
Manik Ram Chattopadhyaya was the head. He was
a pious and kind-hearted man. With fifty acres of
land at his disposal, he was able to meet the needs
of his family as also to lend a helping hand to the
poor and distressed of the village in times of
calamity. In about 1775 he was blessed with a son
who was named Khudiram. Two other sons and a
daughter were also subsequently born to him. After
the death of Manik Ram, the entire charge of the
family devolved on his eldest son, Khudiram, who,
trained in the family traditions of an orthodox
house, was eminently fitted to attend to the mani-
fold religious and secular duties of the household.
Both Khudiram and his wife, Srimati Chandramani,
were exceptionally devoted to their tutelary deity
Sri Ramachandra, and soon earned the love,
respect, and admiration of the villagers for their
charity, truthfulness, and kindness.

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10
SRI RAMAKRISHNA
In 1814 an incident of the great importance
occurred in the life of Khudiram. He was called
upon by the local zamindar to give false evidence
in support of a case which the latter had brought
against one of his tenants. But so fearless was
Khudiram’s integrity that he was prepared to stake
his all rather than deviate an inch from the path of
truth and rectitude. His stout refusal to comply with
the request of the landlord entailed on him in its
turn a heavy persecution which ultimately led him
to leave his ancestral house for good. Penniless and
homeless, Khudiram bade adieu to Derepore and
made his new home in a neighbouring village
named Kamarpukur, where, through the
benevolence of one of his friends, he got half an
acre of very fertile land, which supplied the simple
needs of the family.
The village of Kamarpukur is situated in the
western extremity of the District of Hooghly, on
the road leading to the holy place of Puri or
Jagannath. The village was highly prosperous and
noted for its manifold arts and crafts. The
flourishing condition of the place is even now
testified to by the debris of its old buildings and
the ruins of great walls and temples as also by the
existence of some large tanks. Khudiram began his
life anew in the midst of the quiet and peaceful
surroundings of this village, and soon attracted the
notice and gained the respect of his neighbours.

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SRI RAMAKRISHNA
11
One day, while returning from a neighbouring
village, Khudiram strangely came into possession
of the emblem of his tutelary deity Raghuvir in a
paddy field. He took it home and began to worship
it as his own Ishta. Both Khudiram and Chandra
made a profound impression upon the villagers by
their exemplary life and unswerving spirit of
devotion to their beloved deity as also by their
overflowing kindness to all who came to their door
for help and succour. Thus though the home of
Khudiram never smiled in affluence, it was a source
of great solace to many an aching heart.
After six years’ residence in Kamarpukur,
Khudiram got his son and daughter married. Ram-
kumar, which was the name of the son, in the mean-
while had become quite proficient in Hindu lore,
and was able to relieve, to a certain extent, his
father’s family burden by earning something. So
Khudiram had now more time at his disposal to
devote himself to religious practices. In the year
1824 he went on foot on a pilgrimage to
Rameshwaram in South India, which lasted about
a year. Twelve months later, in 1826, his wife
Chandra gave birth to her second son, who was
named Rameshwar. About eleven years later, in
1835, Khudiram went on another pilgrimage—this
time to Gaya. Here, after the performance of the
sacred rites, he had a strange vision at night. He
dreamt that he was in the temple of Vishnu, where

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12
SRI RAMAKRISHNA
his forefathers were feasting on the sacred offerings
he had made. Suddenly a flood of celestial light
filled the holy precincts of the shrine, and the spirits
of the departed fell on their kness to pay homage to
a Divine Presence seated on a throne. The effulgent
One beckoned to Khudiram, who, coming near,
prostrated himself before Him and heard the
luminous Person saying, ‘I am well pleased at your
sincere devotion. I shall be born in your cottage
and accept you as my father.’ Khudiram awoke with
his heart thrilled with joy. He understood that a
Divine Being would bless his house very soon.
About the same time Chandra Devi was also
having strange visions at Kamarpukur. One night
she dreamt that a luminous person exactly like her
husband was lying by her side. Another day, while
standing with Dhani (a village blacksmith woman)
before the Shiva temple adjacent to her house,
Chandra saw a bright beam of divine effulgence
dart from the image of Lord Shiva and enter her.
Chandra was overpowered, and fell unconscious
on the ground. Dhani nursed her back to
consciousness, but from that time Chandra began
to feel as if she were quick with child. On
Khudiram’s return to Kamarpukur, Chandra
narrated this event to her husband with her
characteristic candour and simplicity. But
Khudiram, who had already had the strange vision
at Gaya, was now completely convinced that they

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