A Few Devotees of Sri Ramakrishna
Akshay was born in 1854 at Maynapur, a small village in the Bankura District of Bengal. Because of the extreme poverty of his parents – Haladhar Sen and Bidhumukhi Devi, Akshay was brought up in the countryside and educated in a village school.
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 Shyambazar.
Devendra Nath Majumdar was born in the village of Jagannathpur in the Jessore District of East Bengal (now Bangladesh) on 7 January 1844. His father, Prasanna Nath, died two months before his birth. As a child, he would never utter a falsehood. The death of his elder brother, Surendra, thrust the family into poverty. His work fetched very little money. He was also assailed by doubts about the existence of God.
Born of pious parents on February 28, 1844, Girish grew up as a lively carefree soul. He inherited from his father a sharp intellect and a pragmatic approach to life, and from his mother a love for literature and devotion to God. His grandmother introduced him to the rich heritage of India’s epics and mythology.
Golap Sundari Devi, known to devotees as Golap-Ma, was born in a brahmin family of North Kolkata, probably in the late 1840’s. She was married off young, but her husband died after a few years, leaving her with two small children, a son and a daughter. Her daughter died prematurely, leaving a void in her life.
Aghormani Devi (popularly known as Gopaler Ma) was born in a brahmin family in the year 1822 at Kamarhati, a northern suburb of Kolkata. She was a child widow. She was initiated into spiritual life by her husband’s family, with the child Krishna as her Chosen Ideal
M. was the pen name of Mahendra Nath Gupta. He was born in Kolkata on 14 July 1854. His parents were spiritual minded and he was deeply devoted to his mother. When he was four, he went to the Car Festival at Mahesh with his mother, and visited Dakshineswar on the way back. It is likely that this was the first time that he saw Sri Ramakrishna.
Durga Charan Nag was born on 21 August 1846 at Deobhog, a small village in present Bangladesh. His father was Dindayal Nag. His mother passed away when he was eight, and he was brought up by an affectionate aunt. The latter used to narrate to the boy tales from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
Ram Chandra Datta was born in Kolkata on 30 October 1851. His father, Nrisimha Prasad Datta, was devoted to Krishna, and his mother, Tulasimani, was known for her piety and kindness. Ram’s mother died when he was only two and a half. His favourite pastime during childhood was the worship of Krishna. He would also visit a hermitage near his home, where he came in contact with several monks.
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.
Yogindra Mohini Mitra, or “Yogin-Ma”, as she was known to the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna, was born on 16 January 1851 at Baghbazar in North Kolkata. Her father, Prasanna Kumar Mitra, was a well-known physician. When she was seven, she was married to Ambika Charan Biswas. The latter turned out to be a libertine, and Yogin-Ma returned with her daughter to her parents’ place.
