{"id":517,"date":"2019-01-06T14:27:37","date_gmt":"2019-01-06T14:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/?page_id=517"},"modified":"2019-01-07T04:17:26","modified_gmt":"2019-01-07T04:17:26","slug":"holy-trio","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/holy-trio\/","title":{"rendered":"Holy Trio"},"content":{"rendered":"<div  class=\"ui--tabs ui--tabs-mega clearfix text-center\"><div class=\"ui--tabs-header ui--accent-gradient ui--accent-color fullwidth-container clearfix\"><div class=\"container\"><ul class=\"ui--tabs-titles clearfix unstyled\"><li class=\"\"><h5><a href=\"#tab-1-1\"><strong>Sri Ramakrishna<\/strong><\/a><\/h5><\/li><li class=\"\"><h5><a href=\"#tab-1-2\"><strong>Sri Sarada Devi<\/strong><\/a><\/h5><\/li><li class=\"\"><h5><a href=\"#tab-1-3\"><strong>Swami Vivekananda<\/strong><\/a><\/h5><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div><ul class=\"ui--tabs-contents text-left clearfix\"><li id=\"tab-1-1\" class=\"hidden\"> <div  id=\"section-gae4k\" class=\"fullwidth-content ui--section clearfix section-gae4k color--dark\" style=\"margin-top: -30px;\"><div  class=\"ui--section-content\" style=\"padding-top: 0px;  padding-bottom: 5px;\"><div class=\"container\"><div  class=\"ui--space clearfix\" style=\"height: 20px;\" data-responsive=\"{&quot;css&quot;:{&quot;height&quot;:{&quot;phone&quot;:null,&quot;tablet&quot;:null,&quot;widescreen&quot;:&quot;20px&quot;}}}\"><\/div><h3 id=\"custom-title-h3-1\" class=\"ui--animation \" style=\"text-align: center; margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 2px; \"><span id=\"text-rotator-1\" class=\"ui--text-rotator\" data-effect=\"fade\" data-speed=\"5000\"><span class=\"ui--text-rotator-placeholder\"> Do  your  duty  with  one hand and with the other hold to God. After  the  duty is over you will hold to God with both hands.<\/span><span class=\"ui--text-rotator-words\"> Do  your  duty  with  one hand and with the other hold to God. After  the  duty is over you will hold to God with both hands.|By turning the mind within oneself one acquires discrimination, and through discrimination one thinks of Truth.|Discrimination is the reasoning by which one knows that God alone is real and all else is unreal.<\/span><\/span><\/h3><div  class=\"ui--space clearfix\" style=\"height: 20px;\" data-responsive=\"{&quot;css&quot;:{&quot;height&quot;:{&quot;phone&quot;:null,&quot;tablet&quot;:null,&quot;widescreen&quot;:&quot;20px&quot;}}}\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><!-- \/.fullwidth-container --><div  class=\"ui--space clearfix\" data-responsive=\"{&quot;css&quot;:{&quot;height&quot;:{&quot;phone&quot;:null,&quot;tablet&quot;:null,&quot;widescreen&quot;:null}}}\"><\/div><div  class=\"ui--icon-box position--top\" style=\"margin-top: 10px;\"><span class=\"ui--icon-box-icon ui--animation\"><img class=\"ui--icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SRK-NEW.png\" alt=\"\" data-at2x=\"\" data-retina-auto=\"1\"\/><\/span><div  class=\"ui--icon-box-content\"><h3 class=\"ui--icon-box-title ui--animation text-left\" data-fx=\"fx--no-effect\"><span  style=\"color: #ad3f0c;\">Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa<\/span><\/h3><div  class=\"ui--animation ui--icon-box-text text-justify\" data-fx=\"fx--no-effect\"><p><strong>Sri Ramakrishna <\/strong>was born on 18 February 1836 in the village of Kamarpukur about sixty miles northwest of Kolkata.\u00a0His parents, Kshudiram Chattopadhyaya and Chandramani Devi, were poor but very pious and virtuous.\u00a0As a child, Ramakrishna (his childhood name was Gadadhar) was dearly loved by the villagers.\u00a0From early days, he was disinclined towards formal education and worldly affairs.\u00a0He was, however, a talented boy, and could sing and paint well.\u00a0He was fond of serving holy men and listening to their discourses.\u00a0He was also very often found to be absorbed in spiritual moods.\u00a0At the age of six, he experienced the first ecstasy while watching a flight of white cranes moving against the background of black clouds. This tendency to enter into ecstasy intensified with age.\u00a0His father\u2019s death when he was seven years old served only to deepen his introspection and increase his detachment from the world.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"auto-format ui--animation\"><p class=\"text-justify\">Sri Ramakrishna was born on 18 February 1836 in the village of Kamarpukur about sixty miles northwest of Kolkata. His parents, Kshudiram Chattopadhyaya and Chandramani Devi, were poor but very pious and virtuous. As a child, Ramakrishna (his childhood name was Gadadhar) was dearly loved by the villagers.<\/p>\n<\/div><div  id=\"section-tf88h\" class=\"fullwidth-content ui--section clearfix section-tf88h\"><div  class=\"ui--section-content\"><div class=\"container\"><div  class=\"ui--accordion ui--box ui--animation clearfix\"><div  class=\"ui--accordion-item ui--gradient ui--gradient-grey on--hover ui-row first-item ui--accordion-state-opened accordion-1-1\"><a href=\"#accordion-1-1\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-title heading\"><div><span class=\"ui--accordion-item-title-text\">1. Early days<\/span><\/div><\/a><div id=\"accordion-1-1\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-content\"> <div class=\"auto-format ui--animation\"><p class=\"text-justify\">From early days, he was disinclined towards formal education and worldly affairs. He was, however, a talented boy, and could sing and paint well. He was fond of serving holy men and listening to their discourses. He was also very often found to be absorbed in spiritual moods. At the age of six, he experienced the first ecstasy while watching a flight of white cranes moving against the background of black clouds. This tendency to enter into ecstasy intensified with age. His father\u2019s death when he was seven years old served only to deepen his introspection and increase his detachment from the world.<\/p>\n<\/div> <\/div><\/div><div  class=\"ui--accordion-item ui--gradient ui--gradient-grey on--hover ui-row ui--accordion-state-closed accordion-1-2\"><a href=\"#accordion-1-2\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-title heading\"><div><span class=\"ui--accordion-item-title-text\">2. As a Priest at Dakshineswar Temple<\/span><\/div><\/a><div id=\"accordion-1-2\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-content\"> <div class=\"auto-format ui--animation\"><p class=\"text-justify\">When Sri Ramakrishna was sixteen, his brother Ramkumar took him to Kolkata to assist him in his priestly profession. In 1855 the Kali Temple at Dakshineswar built by Rani Rasmani was consecrated and Ramkumar became the chief priest in that temple. When he died a few months later, Ramakrishna was appointed the priest. Ramakrishna developed intense devotion to Mother Kali and spent hours in loving adoration of her image, forgetting the rituals of priestly duties. His intense longing culminated in the vision of Mother Kali as boundless effulgence engulfing everything around him.<\/p>\n<\/div> <\/div><\/div><div  class=\"ui--accordion-item ui--gradient ui--gradient-grey on--hover ui-row ui--accordion-state-closed accordion-1-3\"><a href=\"#accordion-1-3\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-title heading\"><div><span class=\"ui--accordion-item-title-text\">3. Intense spiritual practices<\/span><\/div><\/a><div id=\"accordion-1-3\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-content\"> <div class=\"auto-format ui--animation\"><p class=\"text-justify\">Sri Ramakrishna\u2019s God-intoxicated state alarmed his relatives in Kamarpukur and they got him married to Saradamani, a girl from the neighboring village of Jayrambati. Unaffected by marriage, Sri Ramakrishna plunged into even more intense spiritual practices. Impelled by a strong inner urge to experience different aspects of God he followed, with the help of a series of Gurus, the various paths described in the Hindu scriptures, and realized God through each of them. The first teacher to appear at Dakshineswar (in 1861) was a remarkable woman known as Bhairavi Brahmani who was an advanced spiritual adept, well versed in scriptures. With her help, Sri Ramakrishna practised various difficult disciplines of the Tantrik path, and attained success in all of them. Three years later came a wandering monk by name Totapuri, under whose guidance Sri Ramakrishna attained Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the highest spiritual experience mentioned in the Hindu scriptures. He remained in that state of non-dual existence for six months without the least awareness of even his own body. In this way, Sri Ramakrishna relived the entire range of spiritual experiences of more than three thousand years of Hindu religion<\/p>\n<\/div> <\/div><\/div><div  class=\"ui--accordion-item ui--gradient ui--gradient-grey on--hover ui-row ui--accordion-state-closed accordion-1-4\"><a href=\"#accordion-1-4\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-title heading\"><div><span class=\"ui--accordion-item-title-text\">4. Following other faiths<\/span><\/div><\/a><div id=\"accordion-1-4\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-content\"> <div class=\"auto-format ui--animation\"><p class=\"text-justify\">With his unquenchable thirst for God, Sri Ramakrishna broke the frontiers of Hinduism, glided through the paths of Islam and Christianity, and attained the highest realization through each of them in a short span of time. He looked upon Jesus and Buddha as incarnations of God, and venerated the ten Sikh Gurus. He expressed the quintessence of his twelve-year-long spiritual realizations in a simple dictum: Yato mat, tato path \u201cAs many faiths, so many paths.\u201d He now habitually lived in an exalted state of consciousness in which he saw God in all beings.<\/p>\n<\/div> <\/div><\/div><div  class=\"ui--accordion-item ui--gradient ui--gradient-grey on--hover ui-row ui--accordion-state-closed accordion-1-5\"><a href=\"#accordion-1-5\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-title heading\"><div><span class=\"ui--accordion-item-title-text\">5. Worshipping his wife<\/span><\/div><\/a><div id=\"accordion-1-5\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-content\"> <div class=\"auto-format ui--animation\"><p class=\"text-justify\">In 1872, his wife Sarada, now nineteen years old, came from the village to meet him. He received her cordially, and taught her how to attend to household duties and at the same time lead an intensely spiritual life. One night he worshipped her as the Divine Mother in his room at the Dakshineswar temple. Although Sarada continued to stay with him, they lived immaculately pure lives, and their marital relationship was purely spiritual. It should be mentioned here that Sri Ramakrishna had been ordained a Sannyasin (Hindu monk), and he observed the basic vows of a monk to perfection. But outwardly he lived like a layman, humble, loving and with childlike simplicity. During Sri Ramakrishna\u2019s stay at Dakshineswar, Rani Rasmani first acted as his patron. After her death, her son-in-law Mathur Nath Biswas took care of his needs.<\/p>\n<\/div> <\/div><\/div><div  class=\"ui--accordion-item ui--gradient ui--gradient-grey on--hover ui-row ui--accordion-state-closed accordion-1-6\"><a href=\"#accordion-1-6\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-title heading\"><div><span class=\"ui--accordion-item-title-text\">6. Contact with some notables<\/span><\/div><\/a><div id=\"accordion-1-6\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-content\"> <div class=\"auto-format ui--animation\"><p class=\"text-justify\">Sri Ramakrishna\u2019s name as an illumined saint began to spread. Mathur once convened an assembly of scholars, and they declared him to be not an ordinary human being but the Avatar of the Modern Age. In those days the socio-religious movement known as Brahmo Samaj, founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, was at the height of popularity in Bengal. Sri Ramakrishna came into contact with several leaders and members of Brahmo Samaj and exerted much influence on them. His teaching on the harmony of religions attracted people belonging to different denominations, and Dakshineswar became a veritable Parliament of Religions.<\/p>\n<\/div> <\/div><\/div><div  class=\"ui--accordion-item ui--gradient ui--gradient-grey on--hover ui-row ui--accordion-state-closed accordion-1-7\"><a href=\"#accordion-1-7\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-title heading\"><div><span class=\"ui--accordion-item-title-text\">8. Coming of the devotees<\/span><\/div><\/a><div id=\"accordion-1-7\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-content\"> <div class=\"auto-format ui--animation\"><p class=\"text-justify\">As bees swarm around a fully blossomed flower, devotees now started coming to Sri Ramakrishna. He divided them into two categories. The first one consisted of householders. He taught them how to realize God while living in the world and discharging their family duties. The other more important category was a band of educated youths, mostly from the middle-class families of Bengal, whom he trained to become monks and to be the torchbearers of his message to humankind. The foremost among them was Narendranath, who years later, as Swami Vivekananda, carried the universal message of Vedanta to different parts of the world, revitalized Hinduism, and awakened the soul of India.<\/p>\n<\/div> <\/div><\/div><div  class=\"ui--accordion-item ui--gradient ui--gradient-grey on--hover ui-row ui--accordion-state-closed accordion-1-8\"><a href=\"#accordion-1-8\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-title heading\"><div><span class=\"ui--accordion-item-title-text\">9. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna<\/span><\/div><\/a><div id=\"accordion-1-8\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-content\"> <div class=\"auto-format ui--animation\"><p class=\"text-justify\">Sri Ramakrishna did not write any book, nor did he deliver public lectures. Instead, he chose to speak in a simple language using parables and metaphors by way of illustration, drawn from the observation of nature and ordinary things of daily use. His conversations were charming and attracted the cultural elite of Bengal. These conversations were noted down by his disciple Mahendranath Gupta who published them in the form of a book, Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita in Bengali. Its English rendering, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, was released in 1942; it continues to be increasingly popular to this day on account of its universal appeal and relevance.<\/p>\n<\/div> <\/div><\/div><div  class=\"ui--accordion-item ui--gradient ui--gradient-grey on--hover ui-row last-item ui--accordion-state-closed accordion-1-9\"><a href=\"#accordion-1-9\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-title heading\"><div><span class=\"ui--accordion-item-title-text\">10. Last Days<\/span><\/div><\/a><div id=\"accordion-1-9\" class=\"ui--accordion-item-content\"> <div class=\"auto-format ui--animation\"><p class=\"text-justify\">The intensity of his spiritual life and untiring spiritual ministration to the endless stream of seekers told on Sri Ramakrishna\u2019s health. He developed cancer of the throat in 1885. He was shifted to a spacious suburban villa where his young disciples nursed him day and night. He instilled in them love for one another, and thus laid the foundation for the future monastic brotherhood known as Ramakrishna Math. In the small hours of 16 August 1886 Sri Ramakrishna gave up his physical body, uttering the name of the Divine Mother, and passed into Eternity.<\/p>\n<\/div> <\/div><\/div><\/div><div  class=\"ui--space clearfix\" data-responsive=\"{&quot;css&quot;:{&quot;height&quot;:{&quot;phone&quot;:null,&quot;tablet&quot;:null,&quot;widescreen&quot;:null}}}\"><\/div><div class=\"auto-format ui--animation\"><p><em><strong>Message of Sri Ramakrishna<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>The goal of human life is the realization of the Ultimate Reality which alone can give man supreme fulfilment and everlasting peace. This is the essence of all religions.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>The Ultimate Reality is one; but it is personal as well as impersonal, and is indicated by different names (such as God, Ishvar, etc) in different religions.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><div  class=\"ui--animation-in make--fx--appear ui--pass clearfix\" data-fx=\"fx--appear\" data-delay=\"150\" data-start-delay=\"0\"><div class=\"ui--client-list-wrapper ui--animation ui-row clearfix\"><div class=\"ui--client-list ui--box ui-row clearfix ui--carousel\" data-options=\"{&quot;effect&quot;:&quot;slide&quot;,&quot;auto_rotate&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;animation_loop&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;rotate_time&quot;:0,&quot;arrows&quot;:false,&quot;disable_on_mobile&quot;:false}\"><div class=\"slides\"><div class=\"ui-row row\">\n <div   class=\"ui-column span4\"><div class=\"ui--client ui--carousel-item\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Bookstall.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" class=\"ui--animation\"><\/div><div class=\"vertical-divider\"><\/div><\/div> \n\n <div   class=\"ui-column span4\"><div class=\"ui--client ui--carousel-item\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SRK.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" class=\"ui--animation\"><\/div><div class=\"vertical-divider\"><\/div><\/div> \n\n <div   class=\"ui-column span4\"><div class=\"ui--client ui--carousel-item\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Studio.-400x533-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" class=\"ui--animation\"><\/div><div class=\"vertical-divider\"><\/div><\/div> \n\n<\/div> \n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"ui--shadow ui--shadow-type-8  clearfix\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/wp-content\/themes\/envision\/includes\/modules\/module.shadow\/shadows\/shadow-8.png\" alt=\"shadow\" \/><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><!-- \/.fullwidth-container --> <\/li><li id=\"tab-1-2\" class=\"hidden\"> <div  id=\"section-gae4k\" class=\"fullwidth-content ui--section clearfix section-gae4k\" style=\"margin-top: -30px;\"><div  class=\"ui--section-content\" style=\"padding-top: 0px;  padding-bottom: 5px;\"><div class=\"container\"><div  class=\"ui--space clearfix\" style=\"height: 20px;\" data-responsive=\"{&quot;css&quot;:{&quot;height&quot;:{&quot;phone&quot;:null,&quot;tablet&quot;:null,&quot;widescreen&quot;:&quot;20px&quot;}}}\"><\/div><h3 id=\"custom-title-h3-2\" class=\"ui--animation \" style=\"text-align: center; margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 2px; \"><span id=\"text-rotator-2\" class=\"ui--text-rotator\" data-effect=\"fade\" data-speed=\"5000\"><span class=\"ui--text-rotator-placeholder\">I am the mother of the wicked, as I am the mother of the virtuous.Whenever you are in distress, just say to yourself \u201cI have a mother\u201d.<\/span><span class=\"ui--text-rotator-words\">I am the mother of the wicked, as I am the mother of the virtuous.Whenever you are in distress, just say to yourself \u201cI have a mother\u201d.|If you do not pray to God, what is that to Him ? It is your misfortune.|The less you become attached to the world the more you enjoy peace of mind.<\/span><\/span><\/h3><div  class=\"ui--space clearfix\" style=\"height: 20px;\" data-responsive=\"{&quot;css&quot;:{&quot;height&quot;:{&quot;phone&quot;:null,&quot;tablet&quot;:null,&quot;widescreen&quot;:&quot;20px&quot;}}}\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><!-- \/.fullwidth-container --><div  class=\"ui--space clearfix\" data-responsive=\"{&quot;css&quot;:{&quot;height&quot;:{&quot;phone&quot;:null,&quot;tablet&quot;:null,&quot;widescreen&quot;:null}}}\"><\/div><div  class=\"ui--icon-box position--top\"><span class=\"ui--icon-box-icon ui--animation\"><img class=\"ui--icon\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Sri-Sarada-Devi_Web_300-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-at2x=\"\" data-retina-auto=\"1\"\/><\/span><div  class=\"ui--icon-box-content\"><h3 class=\"ui--icon-box-title ui--animation text-left\" data-fx=\"fx--no-effect\"><span  style=\"color: #ad3f0c;\">Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi<\/span><\/h3><div  class=\"ui--animation ui--icon-box-text text-justify\" data-fx=\"fx--no-effect\"><p class=\"text-justify\">Endearingly known as \u2018Holy Mother\u2019, Sri Sarada Devi, the spiritual consort of Sri Ramakrishna, was born on 22 December 1853 in a poor Brahmin family in Jayrambati, a village adjoining Kamarpukur in West Bengal.\u00a0Her father, Ramachandra Mukhopadhyay, was a pious and kind-hearted person, and her mother, Shyama Sundari Devi, was a loving and hard-working woman.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"auto-format ui--animation\"><h3>Marriage<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">As a child Sarada was devoted to God, and spent most of her time helping her mother in various household chores like caring for younger children, looking after cattle and carrying food to her father and others engaged in work in the field.\u00a0She had no formal schooling, but managed to learn the Bengali alphabet.\u00a0When she was about six years old, she was married to Sri Ramakrishna, according to the custom prevalent in India in those days.\u00a0However, after the event, she continued to live with her parents, while Sri Ramakrishna lived a God-intoxicated life at Dakshineshwar.<\/p>\n<h3>Visit to Dakshineshwar<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">At the age of eighteen she walked all the way to Dakshineshwar to meet her husband.\u00a0Sri Ramakrishna, who had immersed himself in the intense practice of several spiritual disciplines for more than twelve years, had reached the highest state of realization in which he saw God in all beings.\u00a0He received Sarada Devi with great affection, and allowed her to stay with him.\u00a0He taught her how to lead a spiritual life while discharging her household duties.\u00a0They led absolutely pure lives, and Sarada Devi served Sri Ramakrishna as his devoted wife and disciple, while remaining a virgin nun and following the spiritual path.<\/p>\n<h3>Life at Dakshineshwar<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">Sri Ramakrishna looked upon Sarada Devi as a special manifestation of Divine Mother of the Universe.\u00a0In 1872, on the night of the Phala-harini-Kali-puja, he ritualistically worshipped Sarada Devi as the Divine Mother, thereby awakening universal Motherhood latent in her.\u00a0When disciples began to gather around Sri Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi learned to look upon them as her own children.\u00a0The room in which she stayed at Dakshineshwar was too small to live in and had hardly any amenities; and on many days she did not get the opportunity of meeting Sri Ramakrishna.\u00a0But she bore all difficulties silently and lived in contentment and peace, serving the increasing number of devotees who came to see Sri Ramakrishna.<\/p>\n<h3>Leading the Sangha after the Master\u2019s Passing<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">After Sri Ramakrishna\u2019s passing away in 1886, Sarada Devi spent some months in pilgrimage, and then went to Kamarpukur where she lived in great privation.\u00a0Coming to know of this, the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna brought her to Kolkata.\u00a0This marked a turning point in her life.\u00a0She now began to accept spiritual seekers as her disciples, and became the open portal to immortality for hundreds of people.\u00a0Her great universal mother-heart, endowed with boundless love and compassion, embraced all people without any distinction, including many who had lived sinful lives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">When the Western women disciples of Swami Vivekananda came to Kolkata, the Holy Mother accepted them with open arms as her daughters, ignoring the restrictions of the orthodox society of those days.\u00a0Although she had grown up in a conservative rural society without any access to modern education, she held progressive views, and whole-heartedly supported Swami Vivekananda in his plans for rejuvenation of India and the uplift of the masses and women.\u00a0She was closely associated with the school for girls started by Sister Nivedita.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">She spent her life partly in Kolkata and partly in her native village Jayrambati.\u00a0During the early years of her stay in Kolkata, her needs were looked after by Swami Yogananda, a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna.\u00a0In later years her needs were looked after by another disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Saradananda, who built a new house for her in Kolkata.<\/p>\n<h3>Simplicity and Forbearance<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">Although she was highly venerated for her spiritual status, and literally worshipped as the Divine Mother, she continued to live like a simple village mother, washing clothes, sweeping the floor, bringing water from the pond, dressing vegetables, cooking and serving food.\u00a0At Jayrambati she lived with her brothers and their families.\u00a0They gave her endless troubles but, established as she was in the awareness of God and in Divine Motherhood, she always remained calm and self-possessed, showering love and blessings on all who came into contact with her.\u00a0As Sister Nivedita stated, \u201cHer life was one long stillness of prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Mother of All<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">In the history of humanity there has never been another woman who looked upon herself as the Mother of all beings, including animals and birds, and spent her whole life in serving them as her children, undergoing unending sacrifice and self-denial.\u00a0About her role in the mission of Sri Ramakrishna on earth, she stated: \u201cMy son, you know the Master had a maternal attitude (matri-bhava) towards every one.\u00a0He has left me behind to manifest that Divine Motherhood in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Ideal Woman<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">On account of her immaculate purity, extraordinary forbearance, selfless service, unconditional love, wisdom and spiritual illumination, Swami Vivekananda regarded Sri Sarada Devi as the ideal for women in the modern age.\u00a0He believed that with the advent of Holy Mother, the spiritual awakening of women in modern times had begun.<\/p>\n<h3>Last Days<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">Under the strain of constant physical work and self-denial and repeated attacks of malaria, her health deteriorated in the closing years of her life, and she left the mortal world on 21 July 1920.<\/p>\n<\/div><div  class=\"ui--space clearfix\" data-responsive=\"{&quot;css&quot;:{&quot;height&quot;:{&quot;phone&quot;:null,&quot;tablet&quot;:null,&quot;widescreen&quot;:null}}}\"><\/div> <\/li><li id=\"tab-1-3\" class=\"hidden\"> <div  id=\"section-gae4k\" class=\"fullwidth-content ui--section clearfix section-gae4k\" style=\"margin-top: -30px;\"><div  class=\"ui--section-content\" style=\"padding-top: 0px;  padding-bottom: 5px;\"><div class=\"container\"><div  class=\"ui--space clearfix\" style=\"height: 20px;\" data-responsive=\"{&quot;css&quot;:{&quot;height&quot;:{&quot;phone&quot;:null,&quot;tablet&quot;:null,&quot;widescreen&quot;:&quot;20px&quot;}}}\"><\/div><h3 id=\"custom-title-h3-3\" class=\"ui--animation \" style=\"text-align: center; margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 2px; \"><strong><span id=\"text-rotator-3\" class=\"ui--text-rotator\" data-effect=\"fade\" data-speed=\"5000\"><span class=\"ui--text-rotator-placeholder\"> They alone live who live for others, rest are more dead than alive.<\/span><span class=\"ui--text-rotator-words\"> They alone live who live for others, rest are more dead than alive.|Be not afraid of anything.  You will do marvellous work.  The moment you fear, you are nobody. |Be a hero. Always say, \u2018I have no fear\u2019.  Tell this to everybody - \u2018Have no fear\u2019.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h3><div  class=\"ui--space clearfix\" style=\"height: 20px;\" data-responsive=\"{&quot;css&quot;:{&quot;height&quot;:{&quot;phone&quot;:null,&quot;tablet&quot;:null,&quot;widescreen&quot;:&quot;20px&quot;}}}\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><!-- \/.fullwidth-container --><div  class=\"ui--space clearfix\" style=\"height: 20px;\" data-responsive=\"{&quot;css&quot;:{&quot;height&quot;:{&quot;phone&quot;:null,&quot;tablet&quot;:null,&quot;widescreen&quot;:&quot;20px&quot;}}}\"><\/div><div  class=\"ui--icon-box position--top\"><span class=\"ui--icon-box-icon ui--animation\"><img class=\"ui--icon\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Swamiji_Web_300-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-at2x=\"\" data-retina-auto=\"1\"\/><\/span><div  class=\"ui--icon-box-content\"><h3 class=\"ui--icon-box-title ui--animation text-left\" data-fx=\"fx--no-effect\"><span  style=\"color: #ad3f0c;\">Swami Vivekananda<\/span><\/h3><div  class=\"ui--animation ui--icon-box-text text-justify\" data-fx=\"fx--no-effect\"><p>Swami Vivekananda, known in his pre-monastic life as Narendra Nath Datta, was born in an affluent family in Kolkata on 12 January 1863.\u00a0His father, Vishwanath Datta, was a successful attorney with interests in a wide range of subjects, and his mother, Bhuvaneshwari Devi, was endowed with deep devotion, strong character and other qualities. A precocious boy, Narendra excelled in music, gymnastics and studies.\u00a0By the time he graduated from Calcutta University, he had acquired a vast knowledge of different subjects, especially Western philosophy and history.\u00a0Born with a yogic temperament, he used to practise meditation even from his boyhood, and was associated with Brahmo Movement for some time.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"auto-format ui--animation\"><h3>With Sri Ramakrishna<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">At the threshold of youth Narendra had to pass through a period of spiritual crisis when he was assailed by doubts about the existence of God.\u00a0It was at that time he first heard about Sri Ramakrishna from one of his English professors at college.\u00a0One day in November 1881, Narendra went to meet Sri Ramakrishna who was staying at the Kali Temple in Dakshineshwar.\u00a0He straightaway asked the Master a question which he had put to several others but had received no satisfactory answer: \u201cSir, have you seen God?\u201d Without a moment\u2019s hesitation, Sri Ramakrishna replied: \u201cYes, I have.\u00a0I see Him as clearly as I see you, only in a much intenser sense.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">Apart from removing doubts from the mind of Narendra, Sri Ramakrishna won him over through his pure, unselfish love.\u00a0Thus began a guru-disciple relationship which is quite unique in the history of spiritual masters.\u00a0Narendra now became a frequent visitor to Dakshineshwar and, under the guidance of the Master, made rapid strides on the spiritual path.\u00a0At Dakshineshwar, Narendra also met several young men who were devoted to Sri Ramakrishna, and they all became close friends.<\/p>\n<h3>Difficult Situations<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">After a few years two events took place which caused Narendra considerable distress.\u00a0One was the sudden death of his father in 1884.\u00a0This left the family penniless, and Narendra had to bear the burden of supporting his mother, brothers and sisters.\u00a0The second event was the illness of Sri Ramakrishna which was diagnosed to be cancer of the throat.\u00a0In September 1885 Sri Ramakrishna was moved to a house at Shyampukur, and a few months later to a rented villa at Cossipore.\u00a0In these two places the young disciples nursed the Master with devoted care.\u00a0In spite of poverty at home and inability to find a job for himself, Narendra joined the group as its leader.<\/p>\n<h3>Beginnings of a Monastic Brotherhood<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">Sri Ramakrishna instilled in these young men the spirit of renunciation and brotherly love for one another.\u00a0One day he distributed ochre robes among them and sent them out to beg food.\u00a0In this way he himself laid the foundation for a new monastic order.\u00a0He gave specific instructions to Narendra about the formation of the new monastic Order.\u00a0In the small hours of 16 August 1886 Sri Ramakrishna gave up his mortal body.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">After the Master\u2019s passing, fifteen of his young disciples (one more joined them later) began to live together in a dilapidated building at Baranagar in North Kolkata.\u00a0Under the leadership of Narendra, they formed a new monastic brotherhood, and in 1887 they took the formal vows of sannyasa, thereby assuming new names.\u00a0Narendra now became Swami Vivekananda (although this name was actually assumed much later.) <\/p>\n<h3>Awareness of Life\u2019s Mission<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">After establishing the new monastic order, Vivekananda heard the inner call for a greater mission in his life.\u00a0While most of the followers of Sri Ramakrishna thought of him in relation to their own personal lives, Vivekananda thought of the Master in relation to India and the rest of the world.\u00a0As the prophet of the present age, what was Sri Ramakrishna\u2019s message to the modern world and to India in particular?\u00a0This question and the awareness of his own inherent powers urged Swamiji to go out alone into the wide world.\u00a0So in the middle of 1890, after receiving the blessings of Sri Sarada Devi, the divine consort of Sri Ramakrishna, known to the world as Holy Mother, who was then staying in Kolkata, Swamiji left Baranagar Math and embarked on a long journey of exploration and discovery of India.<\/p>\n<h3>Discovery of Real India<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">During his travels all over India, Swami Vivekananda was deeply moved to see the appalling poverty and backwardness of the masses.\u00a0He was the first religious leader in India to understand and openly declare that the real cause of India\u2019s downfall was the neglect of the masses.\u00a0The immediate need was to provide food and other bare necessities of life to the hungry millions.\u00a0For this they should be taught improved methods of agriculture, village industries, etc.\u00a0It was in this context that Vivekananda grasped the crux of the problem of poverty in India (which had escaped the attention of social reformers of his days): owing to centuries of oppression, the downtrodden masses had lost faith in their capacity to improve their lot.\u00a0It was first of all necessary to infuse into their minds faith in themselves.\u00a0For this they needed a life-giving, inspiring message.\u00a0Swamiji found this message in the principle of the Atman, the doctrine of the potential divinity of the soul, taught in Vedanta, the ancient system of religious philosophy of India.\u00a0He saw that, in spite of poverty, the masses clung to religion, but they had never been taught the life-giving, ennobling principles of Vedanta and how to apply them in practical life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">Thus the masses needed two kinds of knowledge:\u00a0secular knowledge to improve their economic condition, and spiritual knowledge to infuse in them faith in themselves and strengthen their moral sense.\u00a0The next question was, how to spread these two kinds of knowledge among the masses?\u00a0Through education \u2013 this was the answer that Swamiji found.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Need for an Organization <\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">One thing became clear to Swamiji: to carry out his plans for the spread of education and for the uplift of the poor masses, and also of women, an efficient organization of dedicated people was needed.\u00a0As he said later on, he wanted \u201cto set in motion a machinery which will bring noblest ideas to the doorstep of even the poorest and the meanest.\u201d\u00a0It was to serve as this \u2018machinery\u2019 that Swamiji founded the Ramakrishna Mission a few years later.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Decision to attend the Parliament of Religions<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">It was when these ideas were taking shape in his mind in the course of his wanderings that Swami Vivekananda heard about the World\u2019s Parliament of Religions to be held in Chicago in 1893.\u00a0His friends and admirers in India wanted him to attend the Parliament.\u00a0He too felt that the Parliament would provide the right forum to present his Master\u2019s message to the world, and so he decided to go to America. Another reason which prompted Swamiji to go to America was to seek financial help for his project of uplifting the masses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">Swamiji, however, wanted to have an inner certitude and divine call regarding his mission.\u00a0Both of these he got while he sat in deep meditation on the rock-island at Kanyakumari.\u00a0With the funds partly collected by his Chennai disciples and partly provided by the Raja of Khetri, Swami Vivekananda left for America from Mumbai on 31 May 1893.<\/p>\n<h3>The Parliament of Religions and After<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">His speeches at the World\u2019s Parliament of Religions held in September 1893 made him famous as an \u2018orator by divine right\u2019 and as a \u2018Messenger of Indian wisdom to the Western world\u2019.\u00a0After the Parliament, Swamiji spent nearly three and a half years spreading Vedanta as lived and taught by Sri Ramakrishna, mostly in the eastern parts of USA and also in London.<\/p>\n<h3>Awakening His Countrymen<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">He returned to India in January 1897.\u00a0  In response to the enthusiastic welcome that he received everywhere, he delivered a series of lectures in different parts of India, which created a great stir all over the country.\u00a0Through these inspiring and profoundly significant lectures Swamiji attempted to do the following:<br \/>\nto rouse the religious consciousness of the people and create in them pride in their cultural heritage;<\/p>\n<p>to bring about unification of Hinduism by pointing out the common bases of its sects;<\/p>\n<p>to focus the attention of educated people on the plight of the downtrodden masses, and to expound his plan for their uplift by the application of the principles of Practical Vedanta.<\/p>\n<h3>Founding of Ramakrishna Mission<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">Soon after his return to Kolkata, Swami Vivekananda accomplished another important task of his mission on earth.\u00a0He founded on 1 May 1897 a unique type of organization known as Ramakrishna Mission, in which monks and lay people would jointly undertake propagation of Practical Vedanta, and various forms of social service, such as running hospitals, schools, colleges, hostels, rural development centres etc, and conducting massive relief and rehabilitation work for victims of earthquakes, cyclones and other calamities, in different parts of India and other countries.<\/p>\n<h3>Belur Math<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">In early 1898 Swami Vivekananda acquired a big plot of land on the western bank of the Ganga at a place called Belur to have a permanent abode for the monastery and monastic Order originally started at Baranagar, and got it registered as Ramakrishna Math after a couple of years.\u00a0Here Swamiji established a new, universal pattern of monastic life which adapts ancient monastic ideals to the conditions of modern life, which gives equal importance to personal illumination and social service, and which is open to all men without any distinction of religion, race or caste. <\/p>\n<h3>Disciples<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">It may be mentioned here that in the West many people were influenced by Swami Vivekananda\u2019s life and message.\u00a0Some of them became his disciples or devoted friends.\u00a0Among them the names of Margaret Noble (later known as Sister Nivedita), Captain and Mrs Sevier, Josephine McLeod and Sara Ole Bull, deserve special mention.\u00a0Nivedita dedicated her life to educating girls in Kolkata.\u00a0Swamiji had many Indian disciples also, some of whom joined Ramakrishna Math and became sannyasins.<\/p>\n<h3>Last Days<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-justify\">In June 1899 he went to the West on a second visit.\u00a0This time he spent most of his time in the West coast of USA.\u00a0After delivering many lectures there, he returned to Belur Math in December 1900.\u00a0The rest of his life was spent in India, inspiring and guiding people, both monastic and lay.\u00a0Incessant work, especially giving lectures and inspiring people, told upon Swamiji\u2019s health.\u00a0His health deteriorated and the end came quietly on the night of 4 July 1902.\u00a0Before his Mahasamadhi he had written to a Western follower: \u201cIt may be that I shall find it good to get outside my body, to cast it off like a worn out garment.\u00a0But I shall not cease to work.\u00a0I shall <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/pearls-of-wisdom\/\" target=\"_blank\">inspire men everywhere<\/a> until the whole world shall know that it is one with God.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div><div  class=\"ui--space clearfix\" data-responsive=\"{&quot;css&quot;:{&quot;height&quot;:{&quot;phone&quot;:null,&quot;tablet&quot;:null,&quot;widescreen&quot;:null}}}\"><\/div> <\/li><\/ul><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sri RamakrishnaSri Sarada DeviSwami Vivekananda Do your duty with one hand and with the other hold to God. After the duty is over you will hold to God with both hands. Do your duty with one hand and with the other hold to God. After the duty is over you will hold to God with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/517"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":528,"href":"https:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/517\/revisions\/528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rkmissionvijayawada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}