Birth of Sri Ramakrishna- father Khhudiram and mother Chandramani- primary school-worship of Raghuvir- company of sadhus and listening to the Purranas- beholds a miraculous llight- comes to Calcutta, and company of sadhus at kali Temple in Dakshineswar –sees a miraculous divine form-Thakur like one mad- company of sadhus, Bhairavi Bramhmani, Totapuri and Thakur’s listening to disciplines according to he Tantra and he Puranas- Thakur’s talk with the Mother of the Universe-goes on pilgrimage- Thakur’s inner circle- Thakur and his devotees-Thakur and the Brahmo Samaj reconciliation of all religioins: Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and so on- Thakur’s women devotees-his family of devotees.

Sri Ramakrishna was born o t a pious Brahmin family in the inland village of Kamarpukur on the second lunar day f the bright fortnight of Phalgun. The village is in the Hooghly district, about eight miles west of Jehanabad (Aram Bag) and about twenty-six south of Burdwan.

There is a difference of opinion on the date of his birth.

During Sri Ramakrishna’s illness, Ambika Acharya read his horoscope and dated his birth on the third of Kartik, 1286 B.Y., A.D. 1879. This give a date of 1756 Shaka, the 10th of Phalgun, Wednesday, the second day of the bright fortnight, Purva Bhadrapada Nakshatra. His calculation is: 1756/ 109/59/12. On the other hand Kshetra Nath Bhatt’s calculation in 1300 B.Y. is 1754/.10/9/0/12. According to this calculation it is 1754 Shaka, the 10th of Phalgun, Wednesday, the second day to the bright fortnight, Purva Bhadrapada, 1239 B.Y., 20 February 1833. All tally. At this time there is a conjunction of the sun, the moon, and Mercury. It is the sign of Aquarius. Because of the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus, he would be the chief of a religious sect.

Narayana Jyotirbhushan made a new horoscope (at Belur Math). According to his calculation, 1242 B.Y., 6th of Phalgun, Wednesday; 17 February 1836, 4 a.m., the second day of the bright fortnight of Phalgun, when there is a conjunction of the three planets, all the points tally except the 10th of Phalgun give by Ambika Acharya: 1757/10/5/59/28/21. Sri Ramakrishan lived for fifty years. Thakur’s father, Sri Khudiram, Chatterji, was, a man of firm faith and great devotion. His mother, Chandramani Devi, was the personification of simplicity and kindness. They had lived in a village called Dee about three miles from Kamarpukur, but because of problems relating to Khudiram’s refusal to give evidence in a lawsuit in favour of the landlord at Dere, he moved to Kamarpukur with his family.

Sri Ramakrishna’s childhood name was Gadadhar. He learned elementary reading in primary school but he arithmetic book by Shuvankara confused him, so he left school to stay at home and attend to the household deity, Raghuvir. He himself plucked flowers for worship and performed the daily puja.

His voice was exquisitely sweet, and he could sing almost all the songs he heard in theatrical performances. He was cheerful from childhood. Everyone in the neighborhood-men and women and children-loved him dearly and felt the attraction of his cheerful nature.

Holy men frequently visited a guesthouse at the garden of the Lahas, near Gadadhar’s home. He would visit them there and serve them. And when the storytellers read from the Puranas, he would listen with rapt attention. In this way he learned all thestor8es of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Srimad Bhagavata.

One day when he was eleven years old, Thakur crossed a field to Anur, a nearby village. He later narrated how he had suddenly lost all sense consciousness when he saw a miraculous light. People thought he had fainted, but he had attained the super conscious state of bhava Samadhi.

After the death of his father, Khudiram, Thakur came to Calcutta with his elder brother. He was then seventeen or eighteen years old. In Calcutta he spent some days at Nathair Bagan and a few days at the house of Govinda Cahtterji in Jhamapukur. He performed puja there, as well as at the house of the Mittra family in Jhamapukur.

Rani Rasmain dedicated the Kali Temple at Dakshineswar , which is about five miles from Calcutta, on the 18th of Jaishtha, 1262 B,Y., on the Snana Yatra day, Thursday, 31 May 1855. Sri Ramakrishna’s elder brother, Pundit Ramkumar, was appointed the first priest of the Kali Temple. Thakur used to go there often from Calcutta. In time he also was engaged for the puja work. He was at that time twenty-one or twenty-two years old. His second brother, Rameswar, also sometimes performed puja in the Kali Temple. He had two sons, Ramlal and Shivaram, and a daughter, Lakshmi Devi.

After Sri Ramakrishna had performed the worship for some time, a change came over him. He would remain sitting before the image of the Mother, completely absorbed.

Soon after this, his family arranged his marriage,. They thought that marriage might change his state of mind, He was married in 1859 to Saradamain Devi, the daughter of Ramchandra Mukheriji of Jayrambati, a village about four miles from Kamarpukur. Thakur was twenty-two or twenty –three years old; Saradamani was six.

After his marriage, Sri Ramakrishna returned to the Dakshineswar Kali Temple. Within a few days, h is state of mind suddenly changed. When worshiping other Kali, he began to have wonderful divine visions. He would perform arati but not bring the arati to a close. He would sit down to perform puja but the puja would not end.

At times he offered flowers on his own head. Sometimes he could not carry on the puja but would wander around like a madman.

Rani Rasmain’s son-in-law, Mathur, began to revere him as a great man and to serve him. He arranged for another priest to perform Mother Kali’s worship and for Hriday Mukherji, Thakur’ sister’s son, to be his attendant.

After this, Thakur neither attended to the duties of a priest, nor did he enter into the life of a householder. His marriage was in name only. Day and night “Mother, Mother” was on his lips. First he would be like a wooden figure, then he would move around like a mad person. Sometimes he would appear like a child; sometimes he would hide himself at the sight of worldly people attached to ‘lust and greed.’ He liked nothing but divine talk and continually murmured,” Mother! Mother!”

In the Kali Temple compound there was (and still is) a free kitchen. Holy men and sannyasins would frequently visit it. Totapuri stayed there for eleven months and expounded the philosophy of Vedanta to Thakur. Within only a few days, Titapuri observed that Thakur went into nirvikalpa Samadhi. About the year 1866 the Bhairavi Brhmani (who had come on 1859) led Thakur through several Tantric practices. Looking upon him as Sri Chaitanya, she read him Sri Charitamrita and other Vaishnava holy books. When she saw him listening to Vedanta from Totapuri, the Brahmani warned him, “Baba, don’t listen Vedanta. It will dilute your ecstasy and love for God.”

Vaishnavharn, a pundit of the Vaishnava sect, often visited Sri Ramakrishna. It was he who took Thakur to an assembly of Chaitnaya’s devotees in assembly, Sri Ramakrsihna experienced the stat e of God-consciousness and stepped up to occupy the seat of Sri Chaitanya.

Vaishnavcharan had said to Mathur, “This madness is not ordinary; it is the madness of love. He is mad for God.” Vaishnavcharan and the Brahmani had seen Thakur’s state of divine ecstasy. Like Chaitanya Deva he sometimes passed into Samadhi, the state of super conscious awareness, appearing like a piece of wood, unmindful of the world around him. Then he passed through semi-consciousness and returned again to normal consciousness.

Thakur always talked to the Divine Mother and took instructions from Her. He would also weep, calling out, “Mother, Mother.” He would say, “O Mother, I shall hear you and you alone. I don’t know the sacred books, nor do I know scholars. If you explain to me, only then will I believe.” Thakur knew, and he would say, that He who is the Supreme Being, indivisible Sat-chit-ananda, is the Mother.

The Divine Mother told him, “You and I are one. Live in love and devotion to God for the good of mankind. Many devotees will come to you. Ten you won’t have to see only worldly- minded people.

There are many devotees who are pure and free from worldly desires. They will come.”

In the temple at the time of arati, when bells and c7mbals rang, Sri Ramakrishna would go to the r roof of the kuthi and cry out in a loud voice, “O you devotees, who are you? Where are you? Come soon!”

Thakur looked upon his mother, Chandramani Devi, as another form of the mother of the Universe and served her with this same spirit. When his elder brother, Ramkumar, passed away, the bereaved mother was stricken with grief. Within three or four years. Thakur asked her to come and stay with him at the Kali Temple. He would go to see her every day, take the dust of her feet, and ask about her welfare.

Thakur went on pilgrimage twice. The first time he took his mother with him. Ram Chatterji and some of Mahturs sons accompanied them on the first railway line laid to Kashi. This was in 1863, within the period of five or six years of the change in his spiritual state. At that time he was either in samadinday and night, or he remained overwhelmed and intoxicated in ecstasy. During the pilgrimage, after visiting Vaidyanath, he visited kasha and Prayag.

His second pilgrimage took place five years later, in January 1868, with Mathur Babu and his wife, Jagadamba Dasi. This time Thakur’s sister’s son, Hriday, was with him. During the journey he visited Kashi, Prayag, and Vrindavan. In kasha he went into samsdhi at the Manikarnika ghat and had a divine vision of Lord Vishvanath whispering the name of Tarak Brahman into the ears of the dying. He also met and spoke to Trailanga Swami, who had taken a vow of silence. In Mathura at the Dhruva ghat, he saw Sri Krishna on the lap of Vasudeva; in holy Vrindavan he saw Sri Krishna with his cows returning in the evening from across the Jamuna. Such sport he saw with hi spiritual eye. In NIdhuvan he was overjoyed to meet and talk with Mother Ganga, who was immersed in love for Radha.

One day in 1875 Sri Ramakrishna went with his nephew, Hriday, to see Keshab Sen at Belgharia. Keshab was meditating in his garden house with his disciples. By this time Vishwanath Upadhyaya, the Captain from Nepal, had begun to visit him. Gopal of Sinti (the Elder Gopal), Mahendra Kaviraj, Kishori of Krishnanagar, and Mahimacharan had also met Thakur by this time.

The devotees of Sri Ramakrishna’s inner circle bean coming to him in 1879-80. When they met him, he had almost passed the state of “divine madness.” He was like a child then, calm and always cheerful. But he was almost always in the state of Samadhi, sometimes in jada Samadhi (appearing inert, like a piece of wood, unmindful of the world around ), at other times in bhava Samadhi (immersed in God). Even when not in samadhi , he remained in a state of ecstasy. He seemed like a five-year-old child, always saying, “Mother!

We are immensely pleased to bring before our English-speaking readers the second edition of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, Volume I. By the grace of Sri Ramakrishna, the first edition was published in 2001, followed by Volume II in 2002'and Volume III in 2005. In this five-volume series we attempt to translate the original Bengali edition as published by M., which is currently published by the Kathamrita Bhawan, Calcutta.

In the new edition a discerning reader will notice three main enhancements. First, we have used the expression lust and greed' or 'lust and gold' instead of 'woman and- gold' as a translation of kamini kanchana. Second, we have made the Bengali spellings for places, personalities, and Sanskrit words consistent with the Ramakrishna literature, for words such as purashcha-rana, jivanmukta, Jadu Mallick, and so on, so as to enable the readers of Sri Ramakrishna literature to quickly identify with places, persons, and technical terms.

Moreover, we have added an index of words, another index of songs, and an index of Sri M.'s visits to Sri Ramakrishna by date.

Before you dive deep into the Kathamrita, a look at its publishing history may be of interest. The five volumes of the Kathamrita in Bengali by M. saw the light of day in the years 1902, 1904, 1908, 1910, and 1932. Reading all five volumes, one sees the development of the mind: from intellectual to intellectual-spiritual, from intellectual-spiritual to spiritual-intellectual, and from spiritual-intellectual to pure spiritual, and then to the practical pure spiritual state. In the first volume we find profound truths explained with the help of illustrations as guide to intellectual reasoning. For example, the tortoise moves about in water, but do you know where its mind abides? Rub your hands with oil before you break the jackfruit, and so on. In Volume II the highest Truth is explained by an intellect that is soaked in spirit. In Volume III Sri Ramakrishna is found expounding sublime truths from a totally spiritual perspective. In Volume IV a practical spirit shows how to internalize and apply the injunctions in everyday life. Volume V additionally contains an index of characters and the songs of all five volumes. The five volumes of the Kathamrita, then, are five steps leading us from the gross to the Mahakarana (the Great Cause). Smt. Ishwar Devi Gupta, who left her mortal body on Buddha Purnima, 26 May 2002, remains the driving spirit behind the translation and publication of these volumes of the Kathamrita, both in English and in Hindi. It was her strong desire that an English version of the five volumes be published. Her husband, Sri Dharm Pal Gupta, maintaining the same spirit of faithful translation, prepared the original English draft with the assistance of a few dedicated devotees.

May our readers, friends, and associates attain supreme bliss and peace by reading this book. This is our heartfelt prayer at the feet of the Lord.

It is a great privilege for us to present to our English-speaking readers, Volume II of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita. Volume I of the book was Published last year. In this five volume work, we have attempted to translate M.'s original Bengali edition, currently published by the Kathamrita Bhawan, Calcutta.

In the Kathamrita the blissful nectar of Thakur's words is available through the prism of M.'s totally devoted and pure mind. What he observed of Thakur and heard from his holy lips, he recorded in his daily diary that same day. A strong need has been felt by English-speaking readers, for an authentic and verbatim translation of original work of M. Therefore, we have retained whatever was in the original Bengali text, feeling that it is important to convey the original bhava (flavour) of the God-man.

M. s c riginal Bengali Kathamrita is a step-by-step approach tc unfolding the mind of an ordinary aspirant from intellectual to intellectual-spiritual, from intellectual-spiritual to spiritual-intellectual and from spiritual-intellectual to spiritual. M. himself has mentioned what the Kathamrita contains. He says (in Volume VII, Section III, page 36 of M., the Apostle and the Evangelist): "The Kathamrita contains the whole life — the unfoldment of mind and soul. I was present in all these scenes. How the mind was influenced by all these scenes and words has been narrated here."

Our approach to the translation of Volume II has been similar to that adopted by us in Volume I. However, a discerning reader will notice three main enhancements. First, we have used the expression 'lust and greed,' or 'lust and gold' instead of 'woman and gold,' as a translation of kamini kanchana. Second, we have made the Bengali spellings for places and personalities consistent with the Ramakrishna literature, for words such as purashcharana.

jivanmukta, Jadu Mallick etc., so as to enable the readers of Sri Ramakrishna literature to quickly identify with the place or person.

Last but not least, we have taken the help of two experienced American spiritual enthusiasts to review the book minutely from the Western perspective.

Smt. Ishwar Devi Gupta, who left her mortal frame on Buddha Purnima, 26 May, 2002, remains the driving spirit behind the translation and publication of these volumes of the Kathamrita, both English and Hindi. It was her strong desire that an English version of the five volumes of the Kathamrita be published. Sri Dharm Pal Gupta prepared the original draft of the .English version, maintaining the same spirit of faithful translation. Before he left this world in 1998, he had completed the colossal work of translating the entire five parts of the Kathamrita into English.

With Thakur's grace and blessings we are able to bring out the second volume. We are extremely happy that the Volume II is being dedicated at Sri Ramakrishna's feet on the 109th birth anniversary of Swami Nityatmananda.

May our readers, friends and associates attain supreme bliss and peace by reading this book - this is our heartfelt prayer at the feet of the Lord.

By the grace of Sri Ramakrishna we present to English-speaking readers the third volume of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita. Volume I was published in 2001 and Volume II in 2002. In this five volume series, we attempt to translate the original Bengali edition as published by M., which is currently published by the Kathamrita Bhawan, Calcutta.

In the Kathamrita the blissful nectar of Thakur's words is available through the prism of M.'s totally devoted and pure mind. What he observed of Thakur and heard from his holy lips, he recorded in his daily diary that very day. A strong need has been felt by English-speaking readers for an authentic and verbatim translation of M.'s original work. Therefore, we have retained whatever was in M.'s original Bengali text in the belief that it is of paramount importance that the original bhava (flavour) of the God-man is conveyed to the readers.

Before you dive deep into the Kathamrita, a look at its publishing history may be of interest. The five volumes of Kathamrita in Bengali by M. saw the light of day in the years 1902, 1904, 1908, 1910 and 1932. Reading all five volumes, one sees the development of the mind: from intellectual to intellectual-spiritual, from intellectual-spiritual to spiritual-intellectual and from spiritual-intellectual to pure spiritual, and then the practical pure spiritual state. In the first volume of the Kathamrita, we find profound truths explained with the help of illustrations as guide to intellectual reasoning. For example, the tortoise moves about in water, but do you know where its mind abides? Rub your hands with oil before you break the jackfruit, etc. In Volume II of the Kathamrita, the highest Truth is explained by an intellect that is soaked in Spirit. In Part III, Sri Ramakrishna is found expounding sublime truths from a totally spiritual perspective. In Volume IV a practical spirit shows the way to bring the injunctions into practice and how to internalize the Word. Volume V additionally contains an index of characters and songs of all the five volumes. The five volumes of the Kathamrita, then, are five steps leading us from the gross to Mahakarana (the Great Cause).

In Volume III, Sri Ramakrishna teaches the devotees to fix the mind on God while leading a family life. He teaches his devotees what real cleverness is. He says in Section VI of this volume: 'Sa cature cature -the skill which enables one to attain God is the real skill.' Real cleverness is to remember God in the midst of the objectionable environment of worldly life. This is called pure intellect, or khasa buddhi. It is described in the following hymn:

Among nights, the night of the full moon is the best, as the moon's rays are brightest at this time.

Among women, sati (devoted chaste wife) is the best.

Divine sweetness liberates, whereas worldly sweetness enslaves; so divine sweetness is better.

We are immensely pleased to bring before our English-speaking readers the fourth volume of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita. By the grace of Sri Ramakrishna, the first edition was published in 2001, followed by Volume II in 2002 and Volume III in 2005. A second, enhanced edition of Volume I would be printed in few months. In this five-volume series we attempt to translate the original Bengali edition as published by M., which is currently published by the Kathamrita Bhawan, Calcutta.

In the new edition a discerning reader will notice three main enhancements. First, we have used the expression 'lust and greed' or 'lust and gold' instead of 'woman and gold' as a translation of karnini kanchana. Second, we have made the Bengali spellings for places, personalities, and Sanskrit words consistent with the Ramakrishna literature, for words such as purashcha-rana, jivanmukta, Jadu Mallick, and so on, so as to enable the readers of Sri Ramakrishna literature to quickly identify with places, persons, and technical terms.

Moreover, we have added an index of words, another index of songs, and an index of Sri M.'s visits to Sri Ramakrishna by date.

Before you dive deep into the Kathamrita, a look at its publishing history may be of interest. The five volumes of the Kathamrita in Bengali by M. saw the light of day in the years 1902, 1904, 1908, 1910, and 1932. Reading all five volumes, one sees the development of the mind: from intellectual to intellectual-spiritual, from intellectual-spiritual to spiritual-intellectual, and from spiritual-intellectual to pure spiritual, and then to the practical pure spiritual state. In the first volume we find profound truths explained with the help of illustrations as guide to intellectual reasoning. For example, the tortoise moves about in water, but do you know where its mind abides? Rub your hands with oil before you break the jackfruit, and so on. In Volume II the highest Truth is explained by an intellect that is soaked in spirit. In Volume III Sri Ramakrishna is found expounding sublime truths from a totally spiritual perspective. In Volume IV a practical spirit shows how to internalize and apply the injunctions in everyday life. Volume V additionally contains an index of characters and the songs of all five volumes. The five volumes of the Kathamrita, then, are five steps leading us from the gross to the Mahakarana (the Great Cause).

Smt. Ishwar Devi Gupta, who left her mortal body on Buddha Purnima, 26 May 2002, remains the driving spirit behind the translation and publication of these volumes of the Kathamrita, both in English and in Hindi. It was her strong desire that an English version of the five volumes be published. Her husband, Sri Dharm Pal Gupta, maintaining the same spirit of faithful translation, prepared the original English draft with the assistance of a few dedicated devotees.

May our readers, friends, and associates attain supreme bliss and peace by reading this book. This is our heartfelt prayer at the feet of the Lord.

We present before our English-speaking reader the fifth volume of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita. By the immense grace of Sri Ramakrishna, the first edition was published in 2001, followed by volume II in 2002, volume III in 2005 and Volume IV in 2007. A second, enhanced edition of Volume I was printed in 2010. In this five- volume series we attempt to translate the original Bengali edition as published by M., which is currently published by the Kathamrita Bhawan, Calcutta.

Before you dive deep into the Kathamrita, a look at its publishing history may b of interest. The five volumes of the Kathamrita in Bengali by M. saw the light of day in the years 1902, 1904, 1908, 1910, and 1932. Reading all five volumes, one sees the development of the mind: from intellectual to intellectual spiritual, from intellectual-spiritual to spiritual-intellectual ,and from spiritual-intellectual to pure spiritual, and then t o the practical pure spiritual state. In the first volume was find profound truths explained with the help of illustrations as guide to intellectual reasoning. For example, the tortoise moves about in water, but do yu know where its mind abides? Rub your hands with oil before you break the jackfruit, and so on. In volume II the highest Truth is explained by an intellect that is soaked in spirit. In volume III Sri Ramakrishna is found expounding sublime truths from a totally spiritual perspective. In volume IV a practical spirit shows how to internalize and apply the injunctions in everyday life. Volume V additionally contains an index of characters and the songs of all five volumes. The five volumes of the Kathamirta, then, are five steps leading us from t e gross to the Mahakarna (the Great Cause).

Smt. Ishwar Devi Gupt, who left her mortal body on Buddha Purnima, 26 May 2002, remains the driving spirit behind the translation and publication of these volumes of the kathamrita, both in English and in Hindi. It was her strong desire that an English version of the five volumes be published. Her husband, Sri Dharm Pal Gupta, maintaining the same spirit of faithful translation, prepared the original English draft with the assistance of a few dedicated devotees.

May our readers, friends and associates attain supreme bliss and peace by reading this book. This is our heartfelt prayer at the feet of the Lord.