Born as Gadadhar Chattopadhyay, Ramakrishna Paramhansa was a mystic, saint, and leader; Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

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Ramakrishna Paramhansa, remembered as Swami Vivekananda’s spiritual Guru, a God-man, even cited as a “religious madman”, lived in 19th century Bengal. Amidst the growing popularity of Vedic revivalism and the foundations of Brahmo and Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna’s ideals were much discussed and respected by the Bengali elites and among religious circles.

Deeply revered in the Indian tradition, a spiritual Guru is a torchbearer who shows the right path to all. Worshipped as God in his own lifetime, Ramakrishna Paramhans’ life is an epitome of surrender, spirituality, and devotion.

Saints are often seen as intermediaries of the Divine whose work is to guide and mentor their disciples. These otherworldly beings generally have notions of mystical stories associated with their lives that are embedded with morals and precious learnings that continue to serve educational purposes long after the departure of the Guru.

Here we recount two such stories from the life of Ramakrishna Paramhans who attained *Mahasamadhi* on this day in 1886.

His obsession with food makes for one such story. 

*Once, in the middle of addressing his congregation, he got up and went inside his house and asked his wife, “Sarada Devi, what have you cooked?”.* 

*Sarada was left perplexed, for a man who is deep in his meditative state, should he even bother about food. Ramakrishna began to frequently ask her about food and asked her to cook some of his favorites that left Sarada in a daze.* 

*After it happened several times, she decided to question her husband. She wanted to know why he was so obsessed with food when he had renounced all other material pleasures of life. He simply told her that the day he refuses to eat, she should know that he will live only for another three days.* 

*Seven years passed and Sarada had forgotten about this. One afternoon, while Ramakrishna was sitting on his swing, she brought him his plate of food but without saying anything, he turned his face the other way. She immediately remembered and burst out crying. According to the story, he did die exactly three days after this happened.*

The story then goes on to explain that it was his desire for food that kept him in his earthly form, albeit he had attained enlightenment. A desire that pleases any of our sense organs is considered counterproductive in the path of spirituality. Ramakrishna had clung to the desire for food so that he could pass around his knowledge and wisdom to his seekers. The day he was certain that his *prarabdha* (purpose) on Earth had been completed, he let go of his desires and set himself free.

Another one of his stories goes like this...

*One day a woman came to Ramakrishna, fed up with her son’s unhealthy consumption of sweets. She told Ramakrishna that she had tried to explain to her son that she didn’t have enough money to afford sweets everyday and also it would spoil his teeth.*

*Ramakrishna smiled and asked her to come after two weeks. Two weeks later, the problem hadn’t resolved itself so Ramakrishna sat down the boy and gently explained to him that he shouldn’t trouble his mother and obey her since she is only thinking about his well being. The boy bowed gracefully to the saint and promised to not cause his mother any worry.* 

*The mother was grateful for it but asked Ramakrishna that if all it took for him was to talk to her son, then why did he ask her to wait for two weeks. Ramakrishna explained that when she had come to him first, he was himself a little obsessed with sweets but in order to explain it to the child, he had to first sacrifice it himself that would give him the power and strength to advise her son to do the same. This short story exemplifies the idea of “practice before you preach.” He also told her that “only when we preach what we practice, are our words full of sincerity and appeal to the listener.”*

“Jato Tath, Yatho Math” (As many faiths, those many paths), Ramakrishna Paramhansa, an Advait Vedanta, embodied the principles of secularism and preached that all faiths led to one path. Who you follow is not important but what you follow is integral.