Ramkrishna Paramhansa was a spiritual leader mostly known as an ardent worshipper of Goddess Kali and the teacher of Swami Vivekananda
The revered saint adhered to religious practices from various religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and proclaimed that all religions are equal in a simple dictum: Yato mat, tato path (As many faiths, so many paths)”
He was born in Kumarpukur village to a poor and pious couple Kshudiram Chattopadhyaya and Chandramani Devi in the Hooghly district of West Bengal on February 18, 1836
He died at the age of 50 years on August 16, 1886 due to throat cancer and passed into eternity by uttering the name of the Divine Mother on his deathbed
Although he had a strong disinclination towards formal education and worldly affairs, he could sing and paint well and enjoyed listening to spiritual discourses and was often busy in prayers
Ramkrishna who was appointed as the chief priest of the Dakshineswar Temple a few months after its consecration on May 31, 1855, developed intense devotion to Mother Kali and spent hours in loving adoration of her image, forgetting the rituals of priestly duties
Although he was married to Sarada Devi, they lived immaculately pure lives, and their marital relationship was purely spiritual. Ramkrishna even worshipped her as the Divine Mother one night in his room at the Dakshineswar temple
He divided his disciples into two categories- the first one consisted of householders whom he taught how to realize God while living in the world and the other category comprised of 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 mankind
Ramkrishna did not not write any book, nor delivered public lectures but spread his teachings through simple conversations with the help of parables and metaphors and it has been noted in a book Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita authored by his disciple Mahendranath Gupta
It was Swami Vivekananda who popularized the noble works of his spiritual master by founding the Ramkrishna Math and Ramkrishna Mission