Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1836–1886) was an Indian saint who was born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay in a village in Bengal. Ramakrishna began having spiritual experiences at a young age and yearned for a spiritual awakening. A devotee of Mother Kali, the Divine Mother, Ramakrishna preached that all paths are equally true and capable of leading one to God. As an adult, he lived in the famous temple dedicated to Goddess Kali in Dakshineswar on the outskirts of Kolkata.
Ramakrishna believed in the unity of religions and taught that God was immanent in the world and everyone (householder or renunciate) could achieve God-realization through pure devotion. Ramakrishna was diagnosed with throat cancer and on 16 August 1886, at the age of fifty, he died. He was survived by a band of dedicated young disciples, a handful of householder devotees, and his consort, Sri Sarada Devi. Chief among his disciples was Swami Vivekananda, who instituted the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission to further Ramakrishna’s teachings. In an intensely materialistic age, Ramakrishna demonstrated that God can be attained by simple, unconditional devotion of the heart alone.
Edited by Arpita Mitra, ‘Liberate Your Mind’ brings together Sri Ramakrishna’s core teachings that are followed by people all over the world.