Sri Sarada Devi
(1853 - 1920)
If the motherly love inhabiting the hearts of all the mothers in the world were to beput together and churned, the nectar that would issue forth would perhaps approximate to Sri Sarada Devi. Sri Ramakrishna left her in this world to uphold the ideal of universal motherhood. Born of humble and pious parents at the village of Jayarambati in Bengal on the 22nd December 1853, Sri Sarada Devi grew up practically like any other village girl of those days with little schooling but plenty of work at home and in the fields. Though united with Sri Ramakrishna in wedlock at the age of hardly six, she lived with her parents most of the time in the early years. It was only in the first part of 1872 when she was about eighteen, that she arrived at Dakshineswar and started living with her saintly husband. It was during this year that Sri Ramakrishna worshipped her as "Shodasi", an aspect of the Divine Mother. With no trace of cupidity in heart and yet overflowing with the most tender love and concern for each other, the couple has left to the whole world, the supreme example of conjugal life. The next fourteen years of her life until the demise of Sri Ramakrishna in 1886 were a veritable saga of self-effacing service to her husband and his disciples. It was also a period of intensive training for her by her godly husband, who could well foresee her future role as a spiritual teacher in her own right. The next phase of her life from 1886 to 1909, when a permanent abode (the Udbodhan House) was built for her at Calcutta, was rather chequered. She spent much of this time in pilgrimages and spiritual ministry. The last eleven years until her Mahasamadhi on the 21st July 1920 were more hectic. Apart from spiritual ministration to the earnest seekers, she had also to guide the activities of the Ramakrishna organizations. Her rare insight into the problems of Indian women who were handicapped by obsolescent social customs on the one side, and exposure to the modern western culture on the other, made her recognize the need for their education and even economic independence. That is why she was an ardent supporter of Sister Nivedita's endeavours in the field of education of Indian women. Her last message, `If you want peace of mind, do not find fault with others; rather find out your own fault and rectify them. No one is a stranger in this world. The whole world belongs to you!' is a typical reflection of her own immaculate life
Swami Vivekananda
(1863-1902 )
Swami Vivekananda is just another name for the phenomenon that 
exploded
on the Indian scenetowards the end of the nineteenth century and restored the
self-confidence and self-respect of a Nation that had been badly mauled for a
millennia. Born on the 12th January 1863, of an intellectual but compassionate
father and a deeply religious mother, Narendranath that was his original name
- got a good education and cultural training under them. An innate desire for
spiritual perfection brought him into contact with Sri Ramakrishna in the early
part of 1882. The next four and half years -- until the Mahasamadhi of Sri
Ramakrishna -- were marked by turbulence and turmoil, the direct result of the
perfect master chiselling and shaping the perfect disciple, bur ending in total
submission of the latter at the feet of the former. As per the specific
direction of his guru, Narendra along with the other young men who were his
co-disciples, took the monastic orders and founded a monastery in his guru's
name at Baranagore (Kolkata) in 1886. Setting out on pilgrimage, mostly as a
wandering monk, he finally arrived at Kanyakumari , the southern most tip of the
Indian soil, some time during 1892. There while meditating on the rock inside
the sea, the mission of his life was revealed to him. Then, things moved
quickly. Setting sail for America on the 31st May 1893 he created history at the
World Parliament of Religions held at Chicago during September of the same
year. After whirlwind tours in America and England, he triumphantly returned to
India via Colombo on the 15th January 1897. During the next five years he
literally shook the Indian Nation to its foundations, electrifying it to dynamic
self-expression, through his speeches and writings as also conversations. These
have been compiled and published in eight volumes (now nine volumes), well known
as the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. They contain, as he himself once
remarked, enough message for a millennia. He formally established the
Ramakrishna Mission in 1897 and consecrated the newly built Belur Math, the
Headquarters of the Ramakrishna Monastery, in 1899. He visited the West again
during 1899-1900. He shuffled off the mortal coil on the 4th of July 1902. His
was a multifaceted personality - a prophet, a patriot, a monk, a yogi, a social
reformer, an educationist, an artist, a poet and a humanist -- all rolled into
one. His dynamic life and message gave a new direction to the resurgent India .
His work is being continued even today by the Ramakrishna Math and the
Ramakrishna Mission, the twin organizations that he established with the motto:
Atmano Mokshartham Jagaddhitaya cha, `For the sake of self-realization and the
good of mankind.' The Math is unique in that it has charted new avenues in
Indian monasticism. The mission is an ideal service organization embodying the
teachings of practical Vedanta.