should practise meditation.'
The youth was disappointed and felt that this teacher was not the man to help him in
his spiritual struggle. But he received no better answer from the leaders of other
religious sects. Then he remembered having heard the name of Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa from Professor Hastie, who while lecturing his class on Wordsworth's
poem The Excursion, had spoken of trances, remarking that such religious ecstasies
were the result of purity and concentration. He had said, further, that an exalted
experience of this kind was a rare phenomenon, especially in modern times. 'I have
known,' he had said, 'only one person who has realized that blessed state, and he is
Ramakrishna of Dakshineswar. You will understand trances if you visit the saint.'
Narendra had also heard about Sri Ramakrishna from a relative, Ramchandra Datta,
who was one of the foremost householder disciples of the Master. Learning of
Narendra's unwillingness to marry and ascribing it to his desire to lead a spiritual life,
Ramchandra had said to him, 'If you really want to cultivate spirituality, then visit
Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar.'
Narendra met Ramakrishna for the first time in November 1881 at the house of the
Master's devotee Surendranath Mitra, the young man having been invited there to
entertain the visitors with his melodious music. The Paramahamsa was much
impressed by his sincerity and devotion, and after a few inquiries asked him to visit
him at Dakshineswar. Narendra accepted. He wished to learn if Ramakrishna was the
man to help him in his spiritual quest.
AT THE FEET OF RAMAKRISHNA
Ramakrishna, the God-man of modern times, was born on February 18, 1836, in the
little village of Kamarpukur, in the district of Hooghly in Bengal. How different were
his upbringing and the environment of his boyhood from those of Narendranath, who
was to become, later, the bearer and interpreter of his message! Ramakrishna's parents,
belonging to the brahmin caste, were poor, pious, and devoted to the traditions of their
ancient religion. Full of fun and innocent joys, the fair child, with flowing hair and a
sweet, musical voice, grew up in a simple countryside of rice-fields, cows, and banyan
and mango trees. He was apathetic about his studies and remained practically illiterate
all his life, but his innate spiritual tendencies found expression through devotional
songs and the company of wandering monks, who fired his boyish imagination by the
stories of their spiritual adventures. At the age of six he experienced a spiritual ecstasy
while watching a flight of snow-white cranes against a black sky overcast with rain-
clouds. He began to go into trances as he meditated on gods and goddesses. His father's
death, which left the family in straitened circumstances, deepened his spiritual mood.
And so, though at the age of sixteen he joined his brother in Calcutta, he refused to go
on there with his studies; for, as he remarked, he was simply not interested in an