MORE ON SARADA DEVI

Sarada Devi (1853-1920) was the wife and spiritual counterpart of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the nineteenth century mystic of Bengal. She was reverentially addressed as the Holy Mother (Sri Maa) by the followers of the Ramakrishna monastic order. She played an important role in the growth of the Ramakrishna Movement.

Sarada was born Saradamani Mukhopadhyaya in Jayrambati, a village in West Bengal. At the age of five she was betrothed to Ramakrishna.  Ramakrishna was twenty-three at the time, the age difference not unusual in nineteenth century rural Bengal.  She joined him at Dakshineswar, at the Kali temple, when she was eighteen years old.

Sarada's days began at 3:00 a.m. After finishing her ablutions in the Ganges, she would practice japa and meditation until daybreak. Ramakrishna taught her the sacred mantras, and instructed her how to initiate people and guide them in spiritual life.  Sarada is considered to be Ramakrishna's first disciple.  Except for her hours of meditation, she spent most of her time cooking for Ramakrishna and the growing number of his devotees.

It is interesting how Ramakrishna, a mystic and holy man, came to take a wife in the first place.  Rumors had spread that he had become unstable as a result of his spiritual exercises at Dakshineswar. His mother and his elder brother, Rameswar, decided to get him married, thinking that marriage would be a good steadying influence upon him.  It would force him to accept responsibility and to keep his attention on normal affairs rather than his spiritual practices and visions. 

According to Sarada Devi's traditional biographers, both lived lives of unbroken continence, the ideal of the monastic way of life. After Ramakrishna's death, Sarada Devi stayed most of the time either at Jayrambati or at the Udbodhan office, Calcutta. The disciples of Ramakrishna regarded her as their own mother, and after their guru's passing looked to her for advice and encouragement. She outlived Ramakrishna by thirty-four years.