Adbhutananda
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Adbhutananda (died 1920), born Rakhturam, was a direct monastic disciple of
Ramakrishna Ramakrishna (18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886——— —), also called Ramakrishna Paramahansa (; ; ), born Ramakrishna Chattopadhay,M's original Bengali diary page 661, Saturday, 13 February 1886''More About Ramakrishna'' by Swami Prab ...
, a
Yogi A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297–299, 331 ...
of nineteenth century
Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...
. He is familiarly known as Latu Maharaj among the followers of Ramakrishna. Adbhutananda was the first monastic disciple to come to Ramakrishna. While most of Ramakrishna's direct disciples came from the Bengali intelligentsia, Adbhutananda's lack of formal education made him unique among them. He was a servant boy of a devotee of Ramakrishna, and he later became his
monastic Monasticism (; ), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual activities. Monastic life plays an important role in many Christian churches, especially ...
disciple. Though unlettered, Adbhutananda was considered as a monk with great spiritual insight by Ramakrishna's followers, and
Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda () (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Vivekananda was a major figure in th ...
regarded him as "the greatest miracle of Ramakrishna".


Biography


Early life

Adbhutananda was born in
Chhapra Chhapra (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Chaparā'') is a city and headquarters of the Saran District in the Indian state of Bihar. It is situated near the junction of the Ghaghara River and the Ganges River. Chhapra grew in importance as a river-based mar ...
district of
Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...
,
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
(now in
Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
), around the middle of the nineteenth century. He was given the name Rakhturam, meaning "child who is protected by Lord
Rama Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...
". His parents were poor, humble villagers. Both his father and mother died before Rakhturam was five years old and he was left in the care of an uncle who was affectionate towards him. Growing up in the village, Rakhturam led a carefree life, tending cows and sheep in the fields. In later years, he said, "I used to wander freely with the cowherd boys. How simple and guileless they were! You can't have real joy unless you are like that." Poverty forced Rakhturam and his uncle to travel to
Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...
in search of a livelihood. Rakhturam came in contact with Ramachandra Datta, a householder devotee of
Ramakrishna Ramakrishna (18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886——— —), also called Ramakrishna Paramahansa (; ; ), born Ramakrishna Chattopadhay,M's original Bengali diary page 661, Saturday, 13 February 1886''More About Ramakrishna'' by Swami Prab ...
, and he joined as his servant.''God Lived with Them'', p.396 As a servant, Rakhturam was considered energetic and faithful. Rakhturam became known as "Latu" in his new Calcutta surroundings, and he was called by that name thereafter.


Meetings with Ramakrishna

Ramakrishna lived at the Dakshineswar Kāli Temple, a few miles north of Calcutta, on the eastern bank of the
Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...
.
Ram Chandra Datta Ram Chandra Datta (30 October 1851 — 17 January 1899) was a householder disciple of Ramakrishna and a writer. Datta was a relative of Indian monk and social reformer Swami Vivekananda. After completing his graduation, he took job of a Governmen ...
, Latu's employer, was one of the first householder disciples to visit Ramakrishna. Datta loved to speak about Ramakrishna and his sayings and Latu heard about Ramakrishna from him and was attracted by Ramakrishna's teachings, It is reported that inspired by the teachings of Ramakrishna, he was often found lying covered with his blanket, quietly wiping tears from his eyes thinking of God.''God Lived with Them'', p.397 Latu waited eagerly for an opportunity to meet Ramakrishna, and he met Ramakrishna on a Sunday in 1879 or 1880. When Ramakrishna saw Latu, he reportedly said to Ramchandra that Latu had "holy signs in him." and it is reported that when Ramakrishna touched him, Latu entered an ecstatic state, "tears trickled from his eyes and his lips began to quiver with emotion" and he gradually returned to normal state of consciousness. Latu began to visit Ramakrishna regularly, and he lost the enthusiasm with which he worked before at Datta's house. In June 1881, he joined Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar as his personal attendant and helper. He also used to help
Sarada Devi Sri Sarada Devi ( Bengali: সারদা দেবী; ; 22 December 1853 – 20 July 1920), born Kshemankari / Thakurmani / Saradamani Mukhopadhyay, was the wife and spiritual consort of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a nineteenth-century Hindu ...
in her chores.


With Ramakrishna in Dakshineswar

At Dakshineswar Latu began a life of rigorous spiritual discipline under Ramakrishna's guidance, and also continued his service as his servant to him. His day began, first seeing Ramakrishna and saluting him. As Latu had received no formal schooling, Ramakrishna hoped that he might acquire at least a rudimentary education, so he tried to teach him the
Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
alphabet An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...
s himself. However, Latu's Bihari accent was different from that of a Bengali, and he could not read even the first
vowel A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...
correctly. Ramakrishna corrected him repeatedly with much amusement, and the experiment was later discontinued. According to
Saradananda Saradananda (23 December 1865 – 19 August 1927), also known as Swami Saradananda, was born as Sarat Chandra Chakravarty in 1865, and was one of the direct monastic disciples of Ramakrishna. He was the first Secretary of the Ramakrishna Math ...
, Ramakrishna's monastic disciple Latu was seen "praying and meditating the whole night and sleeping during the day. His life was a literal example of the teaching of the ''
Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; ), often referred to as the Gita (), is a Hindu scripture, dated to the second or first century BCE, which forms part of the epic poem Mahabharata. The Gita is a synthesis of various strands of Indian religious thought, ...
'':'In that which is night to all beings, the man of self-control is awake; and where all beings are awake, there is night for the sage who sees (2.69)."


At Shyampukur and Cossipore

In the middle of 1885 Ramakrishna's throat became sore, which later developed into
throat cancer Head and neck cancer is a general term encompassing multiple cancers that can develop in the head and neck region. These include cancers of the mouth, tongue, gums and lips ( oral cancer), voice box ( laryngeal), throat ( nasopharyngeal, orophar ...
. To conveniently treat him, the devotees moved Ramakrishna from Dakshineswar to
Shyampukur Shyampukur is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. As a neighbourhood, it covers a small area but its importance is primarily because of the police station. Et ...
, in North Calcutta. Latu, being his personal attendant went with him. He later moved on with Ramakrishna to
Cossipore Cossipore (also spelt as Cossipur, Kashipur) is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. One of the oldest neighbourhoods of the metropolis, it has a police station. Its name has been kept afte ...
on 11 December 1885. He took care of nursing Ramakrishna during his final days, reminiscing about which Latu said, "Serving the Master was our worship. We didn't need any other spiritual disciplines." Latu received an ochre cloth and
rosary The Rosary (; , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), formally known as the Psalter of Jesus and Mary (Latin: Psalterium Jesu et Mariae), also known as the Dominican Rosary (as distinct from other forms of rosary such as the ...
from Ramakrishna. After Ramakrishna's death on 16 August 1886, Latu went on a pilgrimage visiting
Vrindaban Vrindavan (; ), also spelt Vrindaban and Brindaban, is a historical city in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in the Braj Bhoomi region and holds religious importance for Hindus who believe that Krishna, one of the ...
,
Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...
,
Ayodhya Ayodhya () is a city situated on the banks of the Sarayu river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ayodhya district as well as the Ayodhya division of Uttar Pradesh, India. Ayodhya became th ...
with
Sarada Devi Sri Sarada Devi ( Bengali: সারদা দেবী; ; 22 December 1853 – 20 July 1920), born Kshemankari / Thakurmani / Saradamani Mukhopadhyay, was the wife and spiritual consort of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a nineteenth-century Hindu ...
, and other lay and monastic disciples of Ramakrishna.


At Calcutta

After Ramakrishna's passing away, Narendra (Vivekananda) and some of the other disciples established the first Ramakrishna monastery at
Baranagore Baranagar (Bengali: বরানগর) is a city and a municipality in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authori ...
in an old, dilapidated house. Here some of the disciples including Naren took their monastic vows and were engaged in the study of the scriptures, practising
meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...
and austerity. Latu joined them later in 1887 and accepted the monastic vows. Vivekananda gave him the monastic name Adbhutananda, meaning, "He who finds bliss in the wonderful nature of the
Atman Atman or Ātman may refer to: Religion * ''Ātman'' (Hinduism), meaning "Self", a philosophical concept common to all schools of Hindu philosophy * ''Ātman'' (Buddhism), ''attā'' or ''attan'', a reference to the essential self ** ''Anattā'' ...
." According to his brother monks, Adbhutananda led a very austere life at the monastery practising meditation and ''
japa ''Japa'' () is the meditative repetition of a mantra or a divine name. It is a practice found in Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Buddhism, with parallels found in other religions. ''Japa'' may be performed while sitting in a meditation posture ...
''. He led the life of a wandering monk around the Calcutta area, unattached to people and places. Sometimes he stayed at the home of other householder devotees, but most often was found living simply on the bank of the
Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...
. Sometimes he stayed at Alambazar Math and
Belur Math Belur Math () is the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda, the chief disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. It is located in Belur, West Bengal, India on the west bank of Hooghly River. Bel ...
. He also went on several pilgrimages to North India with his brother disciples including Vivekananda. In 1903 he moved to the house of
Balaram Bose Balaram Bose (December 1842 – 13 April 1890) was one of the prominent householder disciples of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He was the son of Radhamohan Bose. He is often referred in ''The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna''. Ramakrishna often visited his ...
, a householder devotee of Ramakrishna and stayed there till 1912. Here he was visited by people from different walks of life—judges, doctors, teachers, learned monks, and householders for spiritual instructions.


At Varanasi

In October 1912 Adbhutananda left Balaram's house for
Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...
, never to return again. Here he first stayed at Ramakrishna
Advaita Ashrama Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, is a branch of the Ramakrishna Math, founded on 19 March 1899 at the behest of Vivekananda,diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...
and minor physical ailments. During the last year of his life he developed a blister on this leg, which developed into
gangrene Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. Symptoms may include a change in skin color to red or black, numbness, swelling, pain, skin breakdown, and coolness. The feet and hands are most commonly affected. If the ga ...
.''God Lived with Them'', p.437 He was visited by his brother disciples— Turiyananda and
Saradananda Saradananda (23 December 1865 – 19 August 1927), also known as Swami Saradananda, was born as Sarat Chandra Chakravarty in 1865, and was one of the direct monastic disciples of Ramakrishna. He was the first Secretary of the Ramakrishna Math ...
. Eventually the gangrene worsened and the doctors operated several times on successive days, but were unsuccessful. Adbhutananda died in the holy city of
Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...
at 12:10 p.m on Saturday, 24 April 1920. Regarding his death, Turiyananda wrote in a letter to
Josephine MacLeod Josephine MacLeod (26 December 1858 – 15 October 1949) was an American friend and devotee of Swami Vivekananda. She had a strong attachment to India and was an active participant in the Ramakrishna Vivekananda movement. She was given the nickna ...
, an American devotee of Vivekananda, "He showed no signs of pain during his illness. But the wonder of all wonders was that after this death when his body was placed in a sitting position to conform with some of the funeral rites, we found him looking so beautiful, so serene, so full of peace and bliss. His face beamed with light and an intelligence unspeakable, as if he were taking leave from his friends for the last time with an exhortation of affectionate benediction."''God Lived with Them'', p.438


Teachings and sayings

Adbhutananda, being illiterate, did not write any books; his teachings and discourses have been recorded by his disciples and devotees. Swami Adbhutananda taught that "the true being in man is ever free, ever pure, and remains ever untouched by good or evil. Good and evil have no absolute reality. They exist only so long as man identifies himself with the ego, the false self. When the ego is completely annihilated, man is freed from the false knowledge of duality or relativity--of good and evil." His other teachings were, * What is the use of prayer and meditation if there is no dependence on Him? Everything else is useless if this is lacking. * It is a great sin to find fault with others. Those who do never do a good act themselves, who easily see defects in others and energetically spread rumours. * It is better to continue calling on the Lord devotedly than to know, speak, and preach thousand and one religious cants and shibboleths.


Notes


Further reading

* * * *


External links

*
Spiritual Talks of Swami Adbhutananda

Swami Adbhutananda Biography


{{DEFAULTSORT:Adbhutananda, Swami 1920 deaths 19th-century Hindu religious leaders 20th-century Hindu religious leaders Advaitin philosophers 20th-century Hindu philosophers and theologians Hindu reformers Indian Hindu monks Indian memoirists Indian Hindu missionaries Monks of the Ramakrishna Mission Year of birth missing