GIRISH CHANDRA GHOSH

Girish Chandra Ghosh (1844-1912) was a householder-disciple of Sri Ramakrishna.  Girish was a brilliant Bengali playwright, actor, director, and producer.  He wrote nearly 40 plays.  In 1872, he co-founded the Great National Theatre, the first Bengali professional theatre company.

The story of his relationship with Ramakrishna and his eventual transformation into a renunciate is documented in the Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, or, as it is known in English, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.  A good account is found as well in Ramakrishna and His Disciples by Christopher Isherwood.

Briefly, Girish, despite his talents and accomplishments, was a notorious libertine and atheist.  He had experienced many tragedies in his life, losing both his wives, two daughters, and his younger son whom he loved very dearly.  The son was only three years old.  It hardened his disbelief in God. 

Girish first met Sri Ramakrishna in the ancestral home of his neighbor Kalinath Bose.  Then on September 21, 1884 Sri Ramakrishna went to watch Girish's play "Chaitanya Lila" at the Star Theatre.  Chaitanya, who lived in the 15th century, was the founder of one of the Vaishnava sects of Hinduism and was considered an avatar.  Girish said he wrote these kinds of plays just to make money, rather than out of any devotion to Hinduism.

Girish's first meeting with the Master there at the theatre was not very cordial.  For instance, he saw Sri Ramakrishna in a moment of spiritual ecstasy and thought it some kind of a trick.  Sri Ramakrishna, though, went on to watch a number of Girish's plays in the months ahead, even blessing Binodini, one of the lead actresses. 

As it happened, Girish secretly always wanted to find a guru, despite his refusing to believe that any human being could be so to another.  He came to believe, however, that Ramakrishna might be that guru he was looking for.  Over time, their relationship deepened and Ramakrishna did indeed become Girish's guru, even though the road was rocky at times.

The relationship required complete self-surrender to the religious life, difficult for a complicated man like Girish to accept.  But he did, to the extent that Ramakrishna referred to him as "second to none."