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Image from Ramakrishna by Andhra Patrika editors –

Top 10 Facts about Sri Ramakrishna

Sri Ramakrishna was an Indian Hindu mystic and religious leader, who lived in 19th-century Bengal. Ramakrishna approached his religious life through the path of devotion to the Goddess Kali, and by the observance of various elements from Tantra, Vaishnav Bhakti, and Advaita Vedanta, as well as dalliances with Christianity and Islam.

After earnest practice of various religious traditions, he held that the world’s religions represented so many paths to reach one and the same goal. His followers came to regard him as an avatara, or divine incarnation, as did some of the prominent Hindu scholars of his day. Here are 10 facts about Sri Ramakrishna.

1. Ramakrishna declined formal education at the age of 12

From his early days, Ramakrishna rejected traditional schooling saying that he was not interested in a “bread-winning education. He was a talented boy who could sing and paint well. He was fond of serving holy men and listening to their discourses. He was very often found in spiritual moods at the age of six, he experienced his first ecstasy while watching a flight of white cranes moving against the black clouds.

And this tendency to enter into ecstasy intensified with time and age. Also, he loses his consciousness of the outer world when he was playing the role of Shiva in a school play. He enjoys learning Sanskrit and Mathematics at school. He also likes folk tales told by his mother.

2. The parents of Ramakrishna experienced visions regarding his birth

Sri Ramakrishna by Library of Congress –

In Gaya, his father Khudiram had a dream, in which Bhagwan Gadadhara (a form of lord Vishnu), told him that he would be born as his son. Chandramani Devi is said to have had a vision of light entering her womb from the lingam in Yogider Shiv Mandir.

The family was devoted to Hindu God Rama. The name ‘Ramakrishna’ was given to him by his father. Ramakrishna confirmed this himself, as recorded in “M”s diaries, “I was a pet child of my father. He used to call me Ramakrishnababu

3. Ramakrishna experienced his first moment of spiritual trance at the age of seven 

One morning, while walking along the narrow ridges of a paddy field, eating some puffed rice from a small basket, he came across the sight of a flock of milky white cranes, flying against the background of heavy rain-laden black clouds, which soon covered the entire sky. 

The ensuing sight was so beautiful that he got absorbed into it and lost all his outer consciousness, before falling down with the rice scattered all over. People nearby who saw this came to his rescue and carried him home.

4. Ramakrishna was 23 when he got married to a five-year-old 

Sri. Gri. Ramakrishna –

Ramakrishna got married to five-year-old Saradamoni Mukhopadhyay, who later came to be known as Maa Sarada at the age of 23. The age difference was typical for 19th-century rural Bengal. 

They later spent three months together in Kamarpukur when Sarada Devi was fourteen, and Ramakrishna thirty-two. Ramakrishna became a very influential figure in Sarada’s life, and she became a strong follower of his teachings. After the marriage, Sarada stayed at Jayrambati and joined Ramakrishna in Dakshineswar at the age of eighteen.

5. Ramakrishna believed that every man and woman is holy

One of the greatness of Ramakrishna is that he believed that every man and woman is holy, and he never once claimed to be greater. He was just a common man who viewed Kali goddess like a common woman, truant and benign. 

He always says that achieving god was not by salvation but through work. He always says that to be kind to humans is to be kind to god because god resides in every man.

6. Ramakrishna was initiated into sannyasa by Tota Puri

Ramakrishna –

Sannyasa is the life of renunciation and the fourth stage within the Hindu system of four life stages known as Ashramas. Sannyasa is traditionally conceptualized for men or women in the late years of their life, but young brahmacharis have had the choice to skip the householder and retirement stages, renounce worldly and materialistic pursuits and dedicate their lives to spiritual pursuits. 

At the dawn of morning in the auspicious moment of Brahmamuhurtha, with the Homa fire lighted, Ramakrishna was guided through the various rites and ceremonies involved in the procedure of becoming a Sannyasi. In accordance with the scriptural injunctions and tradition of successive generations, he offered as an oblation, to be free from the desire of having a spouse, children, wealth, admiration from people, a beautiful body, and so on, and renounced them all. He then also offered his sacred thread and the tuft of hair on his head as part of the oblation.

7. Ramakrishna not only practiced Hinduism but also other religions like Islam and Christianity

He explained complex spiritual tales in the most lucid or easy manner. He always stated that religions have their own or different paths but always lead to a single goal which is God. The main aim of each human being is to become one with God.

Ramakrishna found that Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam all move towards the same God or divine, though using different ways. “So many religions, so many paths to reach one and the same goal,” namely to experience God or Divine. Ramakrishna further said, “All scriptures, the Vedas, the Puranas, the Tantras seek Him alone and no one else.”The Vedic phrase “Truth is one; only is called by different names, became a stock phrase to express Ramakrishna’s inclusivism.

8. Several organizations have been established in Ramakrishna’s name

Sri Ramakrishna Matriculation Higher Secondary School logo by Srmkhss –

Ramakrishna is considered an important figure in the Bengali Renaissance of the 19th–20th century. The Ramakrishna Math and Mission is the main organization founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897. 

The Mission conducts extensive work in health care, disaster relief, rural management, tribal welfare, and elementary and higher education. The movement is considered one of the revitalization movements of India. Amiya Sen writes that Vivekananda’s “social service gospel” stemmed from direct inspiration from Ramakrishna and rests substantially on the “liminal quality” of the Master’s message

9. Ramakrishna’s teachings were imparted in rustic Bengali, using stories and parables

The principal source for Ramakrishna’s teaching is Mahendranath Gupta’s Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, which is regarded as a Bengali classic and “the central text of the tradition”. Gupta used the pen name “M”, as the author of the Gospel. The text was published in five volumes from 1902 to 1932. Based on Gupta’s diary notes, each of the five volumes purports to document Ramakrishna’s life from 1882 to 1886. 

His teachings made a powerful impact on Kolkata’s intellectuals, despite the fact that his preachings were far removed from issues of modernism or national independence. Ramakrishna’s primary biographers describe him as talkative. According to the biographers, Ramakrishna would reminisce for hours about his own eventful spiritual life, tell tales, explain Vedantic doctrines with extremely mundane illustrations, raise questions and answer them himself, crack jokes, sing songs, and mimic the ways of all types of worldly people, keeping the visitors enthralled.

10. Ramakrishna died from clergyman’s throat which advanced into throat cancer

At the beginning of 1885, Ramakrishna suffered from clergyman’s throat, which gradually developed into throat cancer. He was moved to Shyampukur near Kolkata, where some of the best physicians of the time, including Dr. Mahendralal Sarkar, were engaged. 

During his last days, he was looked after by his monastic disciples and Sarada Devi. Ramakrishna was advised by the doctors to keep the strictest silence, but ignoring their advice, he incessantly conversed with visitors.

Ramakrishna’s condition gradually worsened, and he died in the early morning hours of 16 August 1886 at the Cossipore garden house. According to his disciples, this was mahasamadhi. His last word, on one account, was “ma”, while another states he uttered thrice, the word “Kali”, before passing away.