Flower-basket of five flowers

Bhabanath Chatterjee

Indian (Bengal) and Bangladeshi: Hindu (Brahman) name, from Chatta, the name of a village, + jhā ‘teacher’ (a greatly reduced form of Sanskrit upādhyāya), i.e. ‘teacher from the village of Chatta’. In Bengali names formed with -jee, the initial element is believed to indicate a village granted by Ballal Sen, an ancient king of Bengal, to an ancestor of bearers of the surname

Balaram Basu

Balaram was born in December 1842, in a wealthy Vaishnava family of North Kolkata. His grandfather, Guruprasad Basu, had established a Radha-Shyam temple in his house, and because of this, that section of the city has come to be known as Shyam-bazar.

It was probably on 1 January 1881 that Balaram met Sri Ramakrishna for the first time. Balaram asked Sri Ramakrishna, “Does God really exist?” “Certainly, he does”, was the prompt answer. Balaram soon became one of the principal suppliers and gave generously to the Master and his disciples. Every year Balaram would celebrate the Car Festival of Lord Jagannath at his home. The Master's presence would greatly enhance the joy of the occasion. The Master used to love visiting Balaram's home in Kolkata. The entire household of Balaram Basu was devoted to God. Krishnabhavini, Balaram's wife, was the sister of Swami Premananda, one of the foremost disciples of Sri Ramakrishna.
After Sri Ramakrishna's passing, Balaram would give one rupee every day for the daily worship of Sri Ramakrishna at the Baranagore Math. He would also keep track of the food situation in the monastery.

In 1890, Balaram became a victim of an influenza epidemic in Kolkata. Before passing away, he wanted only to talk of Sri Ramakrishna, and keep the company of his all-renouncing disciples. It is said that the Master came at the final moment to take him to the Eternal Realm
Surendra Nath Mitra

Surendra Nath Mitra was probably born in 1850, and met Sri Ramakrishna for the first time when he was about thirty.

Surendra's early life was that of a Bohemian – open-minded, care-free and indifferent to religion. He was promiscuous and often got drunk. But this gave him no peace and he even wanted to end his life. Finally, urged by Ramchandra Datta who was his neighbour, Surendra went to Dakshineswar in the company of Ram and Manomohan to meet Sri Ramakrishna, probably in 1880. Sri Ramakrishna was speaking about self-surrender. His words gave Surendra solace and strength. The Master accepted him with all his blemishes. Surendra was deeply devoted to Mother Kali and set up a shrine to her at his home. He worshipped her with much love and devotion. One day the Master said to Surendra, “Well, Suresh, why don't you first offer the wine you drink to Mother Kali, and then drink it as her Prasad?” When he started practising this, the action, curiously enough, filled him with devotion.

Surendra was large-hearted by nature, and used to make arrangements for the food and bedding for those devotees who spent nights with the Master at Dakshineswar to serve him. It was Surendra who commissioned the famous oil painting in which Sri Ramakrishna points out to Keshab Chandra Sen the harmony of religions.

After Sri Ramakrishna's Maha Samadhi, Surendra paid the rent of the house at Baranagore that housed the first monastery of the disciples of the Master. Thus, Surendra's devotion and sacrifice made it possible for those earnest souls to renounce the world for the realization of God.

Surendra passed away on 25 May 1890 at the age of forty. When Belur Math was built, the marble flooring for the original shrine-room was done with some money that Surendra had set part for the Math

Mahendranath Gupta

kathamritabhavan.org

Mahendranath Gupta, was a disciple of Ramakrishna—a 19th century mystic and the author of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita,a Bengali classic. He was also a teacher to Paramahansa Yogananda, a 20th century philosopher

Girish Chandra Ghosh

sabjanta.com

Girish Chandra Ghosh was a Bengali musician, poet, playwright, novelist, theatre director and actor. He was largely responsible for the golden age of Bengali theatre. He can be referred to as the Father of Bengali Theatre

Ramakrishna and Narendranath (1881-1886)

Narendranath had varied interests and a wide range of scholarship in philosophy, religion, history, the social sciences, arts, literature, and other subjects.  He was very interested in the Hindu scriptures like the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas. He was also well versed in classical music, both vocal and instrumental and is said to have undergone training under two Ustads, Beni Gupta and Ahmad Khan. Since boyhood, he took an active interest in physical exercise, sports, and other organizational activities. Even when he was young, he questioned the validity of superstitious customs and discrimination based on caste, and refused to accept anything without rational proof and pragmatic test

In 1881 he passed the Fine Arts examination and in 1884 he passed the Bachelor of Arts.

Narendranath is said to have studied the writings of several Westerners like  David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, John Stuart Mill, and Charles Darwin. He became fascinated with the Evolutionism of Herbert Spencer, and translated Spencer's book on Education into Bengali. Simultaneously, he was thoroughly acquainted with Indian Sanskrit scriptures and many Bengali works. According to his professors, student Narendranath was a prodigy..

Ramakrishna and Narendranath

During 1855 to 1866, these twelve years, Ramakrishna undergone rigorous religious practices and followed by six years of in getting acquainted with his own power and the spiritual state of the people  in general. Thereafter he was seen engaged with unrivalled energy in the task of reestablishing the eternal religion and arresting the decline of religion that came on India under the strong impulse of Western ideas and ideals which preached that this world was all in all. He disappeared from the scene of this world after finishing this part of his work. 
In 1984, when Narendranath was reading B.A., Ramkrishna wanted to make him understand two things;
1. Faith on God, and
2 Faith on religious activities.
Narendranath had the privilege of enjoying the holy company of Ramakrishna for five years, from 1881 to 1886. He used to come from home and pay visits to him during those days.
Narendranath had the privilege of enjoining the holy company of Ramakrishna for five years, from 1881 to 1886.Like all the other devotees of Calcutta, he also used to come from home and pay visits to Ramakrishna during those days.
If Narendra failed to come to Dakshineswar, Ramakrishna  became restless to see him and would send one to bring him.
Just as Narendra saw Ramkrishna's purity renunciation and single minded devotion and became attracted to him since his first meeting, Ramakrishna too was charmed to see his boundless self-confidence and love of truth and made him his own from the first day they meet.
Ramakrishna understood that Narendra was a highly qualified person in the domain in the domain of spirituality and tried to infuse into him the belief in the truth of non-dualism from the very first day he met him.   
Narendra, first of all, applied his intellect to ascertain whether there is any possibility of error in the words of the scriptures and of the teacher, and began practising them only when he regarded them as standing the test of reason. Although possessed of a firm faith in the existence of   God owing to past impressions. Narendra all through his life entertained, the idea that all men, without an exception, are liable to errors and superstitions; there is no reason why one should accept indiscriminately any word of any human being.    

Ramgopal Ghosh and Derozio

Ramgopal Ghosh (Bengali: রামগোপাল ঘোষ) (1815 - 1868) was an Indian businessman, social reformer, orator and one of the leaders of the Young Bengal group. He was called the Indian Demosthenes. Ghosh was one of the persons who helped John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune to establish his girls school.

Early life

The family hailed from Bagati, near Mogra in Hooghly District. His father, Gobinda Chandra Ghosh had a small shop in Kolkata’s China Bazar. His maternal grandfather, Dewan Ramprasad Singha, used to work in the office of King Hamilton & Co. in Kolkata. Ghosh was born in his maternal grandfather’s house.

There are two opinions about his childhood. The first says that he initially joined Sherburne’s School and started learning English. At that time Hara Chandra Ghosh, then a student of Hindu College and later one of the leading Derozians, married a relative of his. Observing the keenness of young Ramgopal, Hara Chandra pestered the former’s father to get him admitted in Hindu College. His father did not have the means to pay for his education at Hindu College. However, one Mr. Rogers of King Hamilton & Co. agreed to pay the fees and he was admitted to Hindu College. The second opinion is that Mr. Rogers got him admitted in Hindu College right from the beginning.

Ghosh did not have to continue that way for long. His brilliance attracted the attention of David Hare and soon he was on the latter’s free student list. In time he joined the class of Derozio. He became friendly with Ramtanu Lahiri and the other Derozians. His dedication attracted Derozio’s attention and he used to coach him in English philosophy and poetry outside class hours.

When Derozio established the Academic Association, Ghosh became one of its leading members. It was in the meeting of the Association that Ghosh learnt to express himself fluently in English. The meetings of the Academic Association were attended by such people as Sir Edward Ryan, who was a judge of the Supreme Court and W.W.Bird, who later became lieutenant governor of Bengal. They warmly appreciated Ghosh’s talent and openly encouraged him

Ramakrishna Paramangsa - last days

In the beginning of 1885 Ramakrishna suffered from clergyman's throat, which gradually developed into throat cancer. He was moved toShyampukur near Calcutta, where some of the best physicians of the time, including Dr. Mahendralal Sarkar, were engaged. When his condition aggravated he was relocated to a large garden house at Cossipore on December 11, 1885.

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. According to traditional accounts, before his death, Ramakrishna transferred his spiritual powers to Vivekananda and reassured Vivekananda of his avataric status Ramakrishna

asked Vivekananda to look after the welfare of the disciples,

 saying, "keep my boys together" and asked him to "teach

 them". Ramakrishna also asked other monastic disciples to

 look upon Vivekananda as their leader. Ramakrishna's

 condition gradually worsened and he expired in the early

 morning hours of August 16, 1886 at the Cossipore

 garden house (pic-2). According to his disciples, this

 was mahasamadhi.After the death of their master, the

 monastic disciples led by Vivekananda formed a fellowship

 at a half-ruined house at Baranagar near the river Ganges,

 with the financial assistance of the householder disciples.

 This became the first Math or monastery of the disciples

 who constituted the first Ramakrishna Order.

Biographical sources

The principal source for Ramakrishna's teaching is

 Mahendranath Gupta's Sri Sri Ramakrishna

 Kathamrita and is regarded as a Bengali classic. Kripal

 calls it "the central text of the tradition". 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 1882–1886.

The most popular translation of the Kathamrita is The

 Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Nikhilananda.

 Nikhilananda's translation rearranged the scenes in the

 five volumes of the Kathamrita into a linear

 sequence. Malcolm Mclean and Jeffrey Kripal argue that

 the translation is unreliable. PhilosopherLex Hixon writes

 that the Gospel is "spiritually authentic" and "powerful

 rendering of the Kathamrita".

Ramakrishna Paramahangsa - devotees and disciples

Devotees and disciples

Main articles: Disciples of Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda

Some Monastic Disciples (L to R): Trigunatitananda, Shivananda, Vivekananda, Turiyananda, Brahmananda. Below Saradananda.

Mahendranath Gupta, a householder devotee and the author of Sri-Sri-Ramakrisna-kathamrta.

Most of Ramakrishna's prominent disciples came between 1879–1885, and were influenced by his style of preaching and instruction.

His chief disciples consisted of:

• Grihastas or The householders—Mahendranath Gupta, Girish Chandra Ghosh, Akshay Kumar Sen and others.
• Monastic disciples who renounced their family and became the earliest monks of the Ramakrishna order—Narendranath Dutta (Swami Vivekananda), Rakhal Chandra Ghosh (Swami Brahmananda), Kaliprasad Chandra (Swami Abhedananda), Taraknath Ghoshal (Swami Shivananda), Sashibhushan Chakravarty (Swami Ramakrishnananda), Saratchandra Chakravarty (Swami Saradananda), Tulasi Charan Dutta (Swami Nirmalananda), Gangadhar Ghatak (Swami Akhandananda), Hari Prasana (Swami Vijnanananda) and others.
• A small group of women disciples including Gauri Ma and Yogin Ma. A few of them were initiated into sanyasa through mantra deeksha. Among the women, Ramakrishna emphasized service to other women rather than tapasya (practice of austerities). Gauri Ma founded the Saradesvari Ashrama at Barrackpur, which was dedicated to the education and uplift of women.

As his name spread, an ever-shifting crowd of all classes and castes visited Ramakrishna. According to Kathamrita it included, childless widows, young school-boys, aged pensioners, Hindu scholars and religious figures, men betrayed by lovers, people with suicidal tendencies, small-time businessmen, and people "dreading the grind of samsaric life". Ramakrishna's primary biographers, describe him as talkative. According to the biographers, for hours Ramakrishna would reminisce 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 were enthralled. In preparation for monastic life, Ramakrishna ordered his monastic disciples to beg their food from door to door without distinction of caste. He gave them the saffron robe, the sign of the Sanyasi, and initiated them with Mantra Deeksha

Ramakrishna Paramahangsa (contd-2)

In 1855 Ramkumar was appointed as a priest of the Kali temple at Dakshineswar, founded by Ranirasmoni. Ramakrishna along with Hriday, his nephew, became assistant to Ramkumar. Ramakrishna was given the task of decorating the deity . When Ramkumar died in 1856, Ramakrishna took the charge of being the priest.

In 1859 Ramakrishna was married with Saradmani Mukhopadhyay daughter of Ramchandra Mukherjee of Jayrambati, three miles to the north-west of Kamarpukur. At the time of marriage she was of 5 and Ramakrishna was 23.Sarada stayed at Jayrambati and joined Ramakrishna at the age 18 at Dakshineswar when Ramkrishna was 36. By the time she joined him, Ramkrishna had already embraced the monastic life of a sanyasi, as a result the marriage was never consummated.

After his marriage Ramkrishna returned to Calcutta and resumed the charges of the temple again, and continued his sadhana  He continued his sadhana under teachers of tantra, Vedanta, and Vaisnava.

In 1861, Ramkrishna accepted Bhairavi Brahmani, a middle aged female asceticas a teache.

I 1864, he practiced vatsalye bhava under a Vaisnava guru Jatadhari.  

In 1865, Ramkrishna initiated into sannyasa by Tota Puri, an itinerant monkwho trained Ramkrishna in Adaita Vedanta,

the Hindu philosophy which empasises non-dualism.

Tota Puri stayed with Ramkrishna for about 11 months.

In 1866, Govinda Roy, a hindu guru who practiced Sufism, initiated Ramkrishna into Islam.

At the end 18873he started the practice of Christianity, when his devotee Shambhu Charan Mallikread the Bible to him.

In 1875, he met the influential Brahmo Samaj leader Kesab Chandra Sen. He also had interaction with Devendranath Tagore and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. He had also met swami Dayananda.

Vijay Krshna Goswami, Pratap Chandra Majumdar, Sivnath Sashtri Trilakyanath sanyal began visiting him during 1871-1885Mozoomdar wrote the first English biography of Ramkrishna , entitled The Hindu Saint    in the Theistic Quarterly Review in 1879 which played a vital role in introducing Ramkrishna to Westerners like the German indologist Max Muller. News papers reported that Ramkrishna was spreading love and Devotion among the educated classes of Calcutta and he had sicceeded in reforming the character of some youths whose morals had been corrut.Amongst the European who were influenced by Ramkrishna was Principal Dr. W.W.Hastie of the Scottish Church College, Calcutta who prompted some of his students including Narendranath Dutta to visit Ramakrihna.

Most of the prominent disciples of Ramkrishna came between 1879-1885 and were influenced by his style of preaching and instruction.

Khudiram Chattopadhyay-father of Ramakrishna

The ancestor's house of Khudiram was in a village Dere in Hooghly, West Bengal, India. He lived there happily for forty years since his childhood with his wife Chandra Devi and a son Ramakumar and a daughter Katyayani.

He was to some extent well to person with 150 bighas of land for his livelyhood. But once the zemindar  of the area Ramananda Roy asked him to give a false witness on his behalf which he did not agree. As a result he had to leave his ancestor's house and his landed property to save  his life. He took the path of truth. With the help of one of his friend Sukhlal Goswami he came to Kamarpukurand got a patch of land to cultivate. Here Chandra devi gave birth to another son Rameswara. This name was given to him as because at the time of his birth Khudiram went for a pilgrimage to Rameswara.
They lived in Kamarpukur for twenty years when his eldest son became a  sanskrit pandit.
By the grace of god Khudiram had another son named Gadadhar.

Rani Rashmoni (1793 - 1861)

RASHMONI, RANI (1793–1861) Rashmoni, the founder of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple, was born in 1793 in Kona, a small village near Kolkata.  By birth she belonged to a shudra or ‘untouchable’  caste. Her father was Harekrishna Das, a labourer.  When she was 11, Rajachandra Das, a very rich man,  was struck by her beauty and married her. In 1817 , Rajachandra inherited the large family fortune from his  father, but he died at 48, leaving Rashmoni and her  three married daughters. Rashmoni, though a very religious person, was  nevertheless aware of the material interests of her family. With consummate  skill and the help of her son-in-law Mohandas Biswas she managed the assets  and prosperity of the house, and also contributed generously to charity.  There are many stories of her fearlessness; when drunken soldiers broke into  her house to loot it she posted herself with a sword in hand at the door of the  temple in her home, while other members of the family sought safety in a  neighbour’s house. The turning point in Rashmoni’s life came in 1847 when, guided by a vision of  the goddess Kali, she started the construction of the temple at  Dakshineshwar, four miles north of Kolkata. In 1855 an auspicious day was  fixed for the installation of the deity at the temple. Since she was a shudra,  Rani Rashmoni could not prevail upon any orthodox Brahmin to officiate as  the priest. She consulted many renowned scholars, and one of them,  Ramkumar Chattopadhyay, guided her out of the dilemma. She made a gift  of the temple to her guru, a Brahmin, and provided funds for its maintenance  by purchasing a big estate in Dinapur and endowing the temple with its  income. Ramkumar Chattopadhyaya was appointed the priest of the temple,  and after him his brother Gadadhar took over. Gadadhar was so thoroughly  immersed in the contemplation of Kali that many people thought him  mentally deranged. Rani Rashmoni was advised not to appoint him, yet with  her intuition and insight she was convinced that his strange ways only  showed the intensity of his religious fervour. Once during the time of worship, Sri Ramakrishna sensed that her mind was  engrossed in commercial matters and slapped her on the back. Outraged, the  astonished people demanded that she dismiss and punish him. She silenced  them by saying that the Divine Mother had illumined her heart through Sri Ramakrishna. She donated generously to the then Imperial Library (now the National Library of India) and Hindu College (now Presidency College). By blocking the shipping trade on a section of the Ganga river she compelled the  British to abolish the tax imposed on fishing in the river, which threatened the livelihood of poor fishermen. When Puja processions were stopped by the British on the charge that they disturbed the peace, she defied the orders, forcing the government to withdraw them. A memorial shrine to her stands in the precincts of the Dakshineshwar Temple.

Ramakrishna Paramahangsa - upto 1852 (contd-1)

The name Ramakrishna was given by Mathura Biswas -- the chief patron of Dakshineswar Kali Temple. His name was Gadadhar Chattopadhyay.

 

Ramakrishna describes his first spiritual ecstasy at the age of

 

 six: while walking along the paddy fields, a flock of white

 

 cranes flying against a backdrop of dark thunder clouds

 

 caught his vision. He reportedly became so absorbed by this

 

 scene that he lost outward consciousness and experienced

 

 indescribable joy in that state.

 

 

Ramakrishna's father died in 1843, after which time family

 

 responsibilities fell on his elder brother Ramkumar. This loss

 

 drew him closer to his mother, and he spent his time in

 

 household activities and daily worship of the household

 

 deities and became more involved in contemplative activities

 

 such as reading the sacred epics.When Ramakrishna was in

 

 his teens, the family's financial position worsened.

 

 Ramkumar started a Sanskrit school in Calcutta and also

 

 served as a priest. Ramakrishna moved to Calcutta in 1852

 

 with Ramkumar to assist him in the priestly work.