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Ramakrishna
(redirected from Paramahamsa)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.03 sec.
Ramakrishna or Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (shrē rä'məkrĭsh`nə pərä'məhän`sä), 1836–86, Hindu mystic. He was born of a poor Brahman family in Bengal, and his given name was Gadadhar Chatterjee. In about 1855 he became a devotee of the goddess Kali and lived for the rest of his life at her temple in Dakshineswar outside Calcutta (now Kolkata). During a 15-year period of intense spiritual practice he mastered all the types of Hindu Yoga and also had mystical experience through Christian and Islamic worship. He concluded that all religions are valid means of approaching God. Ramakrishna had little formal learning, but his saintliness and wisdom attracted a large following. After his death his teachings were spread by his disciples and by his wife Sarada Devi. Ramakrishna's message of universal religion was carried to the West by Swami Vivekananda Vivekananda (vē'vəkənŭn`də), 1863–1902, Hindu mystic, major exponent of Vedanta philosophy.
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. The Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Vivekananda, is represented by a large monastic order in India, devoted to both contemplation and social action, and by centers in major cities of Europe and the United States. Ramakrishna's sayings are contained in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (tr. by Swami Nikhilananda, 1942).

Bibliography

See biographies by S. Saradananda (3d ed. 1963) and D. G. Mukherji (1985); C. Isherwood, Ramakrishna and His Disciples (1965).


Ramakrishna (Paramahamsa)

 orig. Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya

Enlarge picture
Ramakrishna, photographed about 1881.
(credit: Courtesy of the Information Service of India, London)
(born Feb. 18, 1836, Hooghly, Bengal state, India—died Aug. 16, 1886, Calcutta) Indian mystic. Born into a poor Brahman family, he worked as a priest in a temple of Kali in Calcutta (now Kolkata), where he had a vision and commenced spiritual practices in a number of different religious traditions. He denounced sexual desire and money as the twin evils that put spiritual enlightenment beyond reach, rejected the caste system, and held that all religions are in essence the same and that all are true. His teachings were spread by his disciples, notably Vivekananda. A religious order bearing his name, with headquarters in Kolkata, sends missionaries throughout the world.


Ramakrishna
Sri . 1834--86, Hindu yogi and religious reformer. He preached the equal value of all religions as different paths to God


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Perhaps the spiritual power of Pizhichil may be best expressed by the words of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a 19th century saint from Bengal: "In meditation, the mind becomes like a continuous flow of oil.
 
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