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.