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Ramakrishna also known as Gadadhar Chattopadhyay was born on February 18, 1836 in a village called Kamarpukur, in the Hooghly district of West Bengal. His father Khudiram Chattopadhyay was the head of the only Brahmanic family settled in the village. He was a man, pure in mind, straight forward in nature and a great lover of God.

Ramakrishna

      Having born in a poor Brahman family, Gadadhar had little formal schooling. He yearned to learn something, which would raise him above all earthly desires. Gradually he became God-intoxicated apparently falling into a mystical trance. This intoxication, later, made him a recognized worshipper of Kali, the Hindu goddess of creation and destruction. He viewed Kali, as the supreme manifestation of God. His devotion for the goddess increased day by day and ultimately he took charge of the services, which his brother used to conduct at the temple of Goddess Kali at Dakshineshwar.

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      At the age of 23, Gadadhar was taken to his native place, where he got married to Sarada Devi, who at that time was just five years old. Sarada devi had all the qualities of a devi for which she was deified and is still considered a saint by the Ramakrishna sect. After the marriage, Gadadhar returned to Calcutta and took upon himself the charges of the temple again. But after marriage, his fervour and devotion instead of toning down increased a thousand fold.

      From the beginning of 1885, Ramakrishna showed symptoms of throat cancer. His conditions gradually deteriorated and the end came on August 16, 1886. He left behind a devoted band of young disciples headed by the well-known seer, Swami Vivekananda.

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      Swami Vivekananda (Narendra) was born on January 12, 1863 in Calcutta in a fairly affluent and respectable middle class Bengali family. His father Vishwanath Datta was an attorney-at-law of the Calcutta High court and his mother was Bhubaneshwari Devi.

His father lived an aristocratic but pious life. His mother was an embodiment of wisdom and simplicity. Having born into a family which had deep religious feelings, Naren from his very childhood, had a desire to know about Hindu Gods and Goddesses.

Swami Vivekananda

      In 1879, Narendranath graduated from high school in the first division. He joined the famous Presidency College in Calcutta but later studied in the General Assembly’s Institution (Present Scottish Church College). While in college, he made extensive study of Western logic, Philosophy and Science. He was told by somebody that if he really sought illumination, he should visit Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, whom he came to accept as his master. Five years at the feet of Ramakrishna gradually transformed Naren to Swami Vivekananda.

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      After the death of Ramakrishna on August 16, 1886, Vivekananda served humanity for the rest of his life. The fame of the wandering monk of India suddenly reached a luminous height at the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893, at which he represented Hinduism. On his return to India, he founded the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, a place of international pilgrimage, where the relics of Sri Ramakrishna have been preserved. Swamiji left his body on July 4, 1902. His lectures and writings have all been preserved in the “Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”. In a brief spell of thirty-nine years (1863-1902), he wrote his four classics: Jnana-Yoga, Bhakti-Yoga, Karma-Yoga, and Raja-Yoga, all of which are outstanding treatises on Hindu philosophy. Sister Nivedita, or Margaret Elizabeth Noble - born at Dungannon Co. Tyrone on October 28, 1867 - was one of the best-known disciples of Swami Vivekananda.

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Sri Aurobindo , a pioneer of India’s freedom movement, poet, seer and the exponent of Internal Yoga was born in Calcutta, on Thursday, the 15th August, 1872.

Sri Aurobindo

      At the age of four, he was sent to the Loreto Convent School at Darjeeling. In 1879, Sri Aurobindo’s parents led him and his two elder brothers to England. In 1884, the brothers were shifted to London and Sri Aurobindo entered St. Paul’s School. From school Aurobindo went to King’s College, Cambridge with a senior classical scholarship, where he distinguished himself as a student of European classics. In 1892, he passed the first part of the Classical Tripos in the first class as well as the Indian Civil Service Examination. Later, he returned to India and joined the Revenue department in Baroda. Afterwards he became a Professor of English and finally, Vice-Principal in the Baroda College. At Baroda he learnt Sanskrit and several modern Indian languages, tried to understand the spirit of Indian civilization and its forms past and present.

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      In 1906, he left Baroda and went to Calcutta as Principal of the newly founded Bengal National College. After joining the Bengal National College, he got involved into the revolutionary movement with reckless haste. He was a great figure in the nationalist movements of the time. He edited the English daily Bande Mataram and wrote fearless editorials. In 1907, he presided over the Nationalist Conference at Surat. In May, 1908, he was arrested in the Alipore Conspiracy Case. During his detention in Alipore jail for twelve months he practiced Yoga and at that time he could feel the pressing need for an exclusive concentration. In February, 1910, he withdrew from the field and sailed for Pondicherry to devote himself entirely to his evolving spiritual mission. During all his stay at Pondicherry from 1910 onwards, he gradually became more devoted to his spiritual work. Initially in Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo lived in seclusion with four or five disciples. Afterwards more and yet more began to come to him to follow his spiritual path. He published both literary and philosophical works of very high standards from there. Sri Aurobindo passed away on December 5, 1950.

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