The wife was Sarada Devi, later known as The Holy Mother, and the husband, Sri Ramakrishna. The place was Cossipore, and the day, Sunday, August 16, 1886---the day when Sri Ramakrishna entered into mahasamadhi. It was the saddest moment for his young disciples---for Sarada Devi, it was the moment of realization and renunciation that had prepared her for the inevitable. She described later the state of her mind during those critical days of her life:

"I went to the temple of Siva at Tarakeswar, but that too proved fruitless. I lay before the Deity there for two days without food and drink, supplicating for some divine remedy for Master's illness. On the second night I was startled to hear a sound. It was as if some one was breaking a pile of earthen pots with a blow. I woke up and the idea flashed in my mind, "Who is a husband in this world, and of whom? Who is related to whom here? For whom am I sacrificing my life?" At a stroke all earthly ties were cut asunder, and the mind filled with renunciation! I groped my way through the darkness, and sprinkled my face with the holy water in the basin behind the temple . . . The next day I returned to Cossipore. As soon as the Master saw me, he asked in good humour, "Well did you get anything?---nothing at all!" [3]

After Sri Ramakrishna's passing away, Sarada Devi wept not for her husband, but because she felt that Mother Kali had left her. [4] Sri Ramakrishna, to whom all women were manifestations of the Divine Mother, [5] also treated Sarada Devi not as his wife but the Divine Mother.

"One day, while stroking his (Ramakrishna's) feet, Sarada Devi asked the Master, "What do you think of me?" Quick came the answer: "The Mother who is worshipped in the temple is the mother who has given birth to my body and is now living in the nahabat, and it is She again who is stroking my feet at this moment. Indeed, I always look on you as the personification of the Blissful Mother Kali." [6]

Such a relationship between husband and wife of treating each other as the Divine Mother is unique in the spiritual history of mankind. With our limited intellect, we cannot comprehend this divine play on the stage of the world.

To many readers of The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, his teaching, especially to his young disciples and future monks, of shunning "women and gold" (Kaminikanchan) may seem to be paradoxical when he himself was married. We must realize, however, that Sri Ramakrishna and Sarada Devi's marriage was not on the physical plane. Instead, it was a divine union with a specific purpose of benefiting the humanity. On his own marriage he once commented: Marriage is necessary for the sake of samaskara (purificatory rites according to Hindu religious law). [7]  Explaining this divine union Swami Gambhirananda wrote:

God as associated with His Power, is alone able to set in motion a new cycle of social and spiritual regeneration; else it is impossible to conceive of the Absolute Brahman as involved in any process of evolution. When God incarnates as man, He invokes this Power and then employs Her for the good of men. Divine Power, thus propitiated by the Lord Himself, becomes gracious and suitably rearranges factors concerned for the advancement of erring and perplexed humanity. . . Not only this, when God comes down as man, Divine Power also accompanies Him most often as a woman . . . Divorced from Power, His divine drama cannot be enacted, nor can it be comprehended by us. [8]

Divine drama indeed! And most people failed to comprehend this drama until the first few of its acts had been played!

We know that the crowd of devotees and future disciples of Sri Ramakrishna started coming to him in Dakshineshwar temple around 1879. (see Sri Ramakrishna). During those days, only a few of these devotees had even an inkling of the true nature of Sarada Devi---the majority of them knew her only as Sri Ramakrishna's wife rather than a spiritual luminary. There could be two reasons as to why people failed to recognize her true identity.

First, during her stay in nahabat at the temple, Sarada Devi was always in the background, away from the crowd of Sri Ramakrishna's visitors. She grew up in a modest rural environment. Lack of modern city culture coupled with her rural simplicity and social conventions and prejudices of the time inhibited her to move freely amongst Sri Ramakrishna's male devotees and future disciples. After Sri Ramakrishna's passing away, Holy Mother followed his instructions of providing spiritual guidance for the Ramakrishna movement. However, she worked all her life from behind the scene without any fanfare. From the following account by Swami Nikhilananda, a disciple of Holy Mother, we learn that even in 1916, only four years before her passing away, very little was known about her!

"She lived a secluded life unknown to the public. Very few knew her existence. The present writer, in 1916 expressed the desire for initiation to Swami Premananda at the Belur Math and suggested the name of one of Sri Ramakrishna's foremost disciples. The Swami asked him to go to the Mother. In his utter ignorance the writer asked who the Mother was and received a thorough scolding from the Swami. Nothing was written about her except a brief mention in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. . . Her pictures were not shown in public. . .Some heard about her from friends or relatives. . . Some came to know of her through a dream or vision." [9]

The second reason is more subtle with a deeper significance. Finite minds cannot understand the Infinite, the Absolute or its accompanying Power (see Sri Ramakrishna). Ordinary people with their limited intellect can comprehend only the effect of the Divine Power, and not the Divine Power herself. We can feel and can enjoy the warmth radiated from a fireplace---comprehending exactly what fire is altogether a different matter. In little over one hundred years of Sri Ramakrishna's passing away, spreading of his message all over the world is not just an accident or a random phenomenon, rather it's the effect of the Divine Power working for the regeneration of the world. The Holy Mother being the personification of the Divine Power, it was impossible for most people then, and even now for us to recognize her true nature.

Events that followed starting a few days before Sri Ramakrishna's mahasamadhi may very well be construed as a divine drama. Briefly, these events were:

• Sri Ramakrishna's leaving his young disciples in charge of Narendra, the future Swami Vivekananda.

• Sri Ramakrishna's himself laying the foundation of the future Ramakrishna Order of monks by giving ochre clothes to selected disciples.

• Sri Ramakrishna's entering into mahasamadhi.

• To follow Sri Ramakrishna's wishes, Holy Mother's returning to his ancestral home in Kamarpukur and facing utmost hardship.

• Young Narendra and his brother disciple's, most of whom were in their twenties, taking vows of renunciation while facing utmost hardship.

• The young monk's, especially, Swami Vivekananda's pilgrimage to various places in India as wandering monks.

• Swami Vivekananda's deep mediation and vision of his plan for future of India at Kanyakumari (Cape Comorine) in South India.

• With the Holy Mother's blessings, Swami Vivekananda's sailing to USA to represent Hinduism at the Parliament of World Religion in Chicago.

• Vivekananda's delivering his historic addresses at the Parliament of World Religion.

• His 'cyclonic' lecturing tour all over USA and Europe and spreading the message of Vedanta.

• His founding of the Vedanta Society in New York, the first Vedanta Center in the Western hemisphere, for the purpose of teaching Vedanta to the Americans who wanted to learn about this age old philosophy.

• And finally, his returning to India, founding the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, and passing away at the age of only 39 years.

Were these simply ordinary or casual events? Hardly, when we study chronologically the detailed history of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission and see how the Ramakrishna Movement started with a most humble beginning and now after a century it has become what Christopher Isherwood addressed as a phenomenon. . . . . something extraordinary and mysterious.[10]

There is no doubt whatsoever that Vivekananda with the help of his brother disciples, and his followers and well-wishers in USA, Europe, and India, worked very hard to accomplish this mission only in just ten years. Nonetheless, he could not have accomplished this monumental task without Divine Blessings. Vivekananda did realize that the Divine Power was always working through him, for he wrote from USA to his brother disciple Swami Shivananda in 1894:

"Without Shakti (Power) there is no regeneration for the world . . .Hence it is her (The Holy Mother's) Math that I want first . . .Without the grace of Shakti nothing is to be accomplished . . . To me Mother's grace is a hundred thousand times more valuable than Father's (implies Sri Ramakrishna's). Mother's grace, Mother's blessings are all paramount to me . . . Brother, before proceeding to America I wrote to Mother to bless me. Her blessings came and at one bound I cleared the ocean." [11]

And Swami Shivananda himself wrote the following about the Holy Mother:

"Holy Mother is not an ordinary woman, not a spiritual aspirant, not just a perfect person. She is eternally perfect a partial manifestation of the Primordial Energy. . . Holy Mother assumed a human body to awaken the womanhood of the entire world. Don't you see, since her advent, what an amazing awakening has set in among the women of the world? They are now resolved to build up their lives gracefully and advance in all directions. A very surprising renaissance is swaying women in the fields of spirituality, politics, science, literature etc. And more will come. This is the play of the Divine Power. Ordinary mortals cannot understand this mystery." [12]

Swami Premananda, another brother disciple, exuberantly expressed his reverence for the Holy Mother with these words:

"Who has understood the Holy Mother? There's not a trace of grandeur. The Master had at least his power of vidya (knowledge) manifested, but the Mother?--- her perfection of knowledge is hidden. What a mighty power is this! Glory to the Mother! Glory to the Mother! Glory to the powerful Mother! A poison that we can't assimilate we pass on to the Mother. She draws every one to her lap. An infinite power---an incomparable grace! Glory to the Mother! Not to speak of us; we haven't seen the Master himself doing this. With how much caution and what testing he accepted any one! And here---what do you see here at the Mother's place? Wonderful! Wonderful! She grants shelter to everyone, eats food from the hands of almost anyone, and all is digested! Mother! Mother! victory unto the Mother!" [13]

Whether Sarada Devi was the personification of the Divine Mother can only be realized by individual spiritual seekers depending on his or her power of comprehension, faith, and conviction.

Sri Ramakrishna's ritualistically worshipping Sarada Devi as Shodasi, a form of the Divine Mother, prostrating himself and offering his rosaries at her feet and declaring her as Saraswati, the goddess of learning, does give us a hint about her divinity. Many other incidents in various books (see the book list below) also give direct or indirect hints of her identity. There were a few rare moments when the Holy Mother herself revealed her identity during conversations with her intimate disciples and devotees.

A disciple once thought that if Sri Ramakrishna was an incarnation of God (the belief that started spreading among his followers around or soon after his passing away in 1886), then Sarada Devi must be the Divine Power, the Mother of the Universe, or Sakti and he asked Mother:
"If that be the case, then why do I see you preparing bread like an ordinary woman? It is Maya I suppose, is it not?"
Mother: It is Maya indeed! Otherwise why should I fall into such a state? But God loves to sport as a human being . . .
Disciple: Do you remember your real nature?
Mother: Yes, I recall it now and then. At that time I say to myself, "What is this that I am doing? What is all this about?" Then I remember the house, the building and children and forget my real self. [14]

"The devotee had heard from others. 'The Mother is Kali  herself, the Primal Energy, the Deity.' He wanted a confirmation of this from the Mother herself; for the Gita speaks of such a self-avowal. Hence he said to the Mother, ' I believe what I have heard of you. Yet if you yourself tell me so, I can be free from any lingering doubt. I want to learn from your own words, whether that's true.' The Mother said,'Yes, it is so.'" [15]

"The Master comes down in every age and his Sakti, the Divine Mother, accompanies him. She often pointed out this eternal relationship to the chosen few. Nalini Sarkar of Midnapur asked her once, 'Mother, did you come with all the incarnations?' 'Yes, my son,' replied the Mother." [16]

"Mother:  You must have come here prompted by certain feeling. Perhaps you have in your mind the thought of the Divine Mother of the Universe."
Disciple:  Are you the Mother of all?
Mother:   Yes.
Disciple:  Even of these birds and animals?
Mother:   Yes of these also.
Disciple:  Then why should they suffer so much?
Mother:    In this birth they must have these experiences." [17]

"One day, not long after Sri Ramakrishna's death, Holy Mother was going from Jayrambati to Kamarpukur. Her nephew Shivaram, who was mere boy at that time, accompanied her. . . during the journey, as they neared Jayrambati, Shivaram thought of something, stopped and asked Holy Mother who she was. Holy Mother first tried to brush aside his question by replying that she was her aunt. But when Shivaram was not happy and would not go further, Mother said "People say I am Kali".
Shivaram : "Are you really Kali? Is it true?"
Mother: "Yes." [18]

The Holy Mother didn't teach the same way Sri Ramakrishna taught his future disciples, devotees, or curious visitors. Besides talking to a few disciples and devotees, who later recorded her teachings and the conversation with her in the The Gospel of the Holy Mother, she didn't teach people gathered around her. Her life was very simple, not different in any way from that of the women of rural India of her time---she took care of the household and did all the chores. Swami Premananda said:

"You have seen with your own eyes, how the Mother, who is in reality the Great Goddess ruling over those who wield the destinies of kings and emperors, has yet elected to become a poor woman plastering the house with cow-dung, scouring utensils, winnowing rice and cleaning the leavings of the devotees after their meals. She undertakes all these tasks to teach the householders their domestic duties. What infinite endurance, limitless mercy and absolute absence of egotism are there." [19]

However, the Holy Mother initiated a large number of devotees, both monastics and householders. Whoever came to her, received her blessings, for she was the Mother of all---whoever came to her irrespective of cast, creed, or social status was her child.

"If she had no new devotee at her place at Jayrambati, she would often be heard to say, There is no devotee today'. . . addressing to the Master she would say, 'This day too is gone in vain! No one turned up today! Did you not say, "You will have to do something or the other every day?" She kept on looking out to see if anyone was coming, saying to the Master with fixed eyes, 'How is it, Master? Will the day go in vain?'" [20]

The Holy Mother taught with every mundane activity of her daily life. She taught simple instructions on how to meditate, how to practice japa, and to develop the attitude of surrendering to the Lord. She emphasized the importance of japa for spiritual seekers:

"Try to remember the Master always and perform your japa, whenever you can; at least you can salute him mentally, can't you?" [21]

"The mind will be steadied if one repeats the Name of God fifteen or twenty thousand times a day. It is truly so." [22]

At the same time, the Holy Mother also stressed on the importance of work:

"How can the mind be kept well without work? Is it possible to meditate for all twenty-four hours of the day. So one has to take up some work. That keeps the mind in good shape." [23]

"One should always be active. One should never be without work. For when one is idle, all sorts of bad thoughts crop up in one's mind." [24]

On karma, The Holy Mother taught:

"The result of karma, is inevitable. But by repeating the Name of God, you can lessen its intensity. If you were destined to have a wound as wide as a plough share, you will get pin-prick at least. The effect of karma, can be counteracted to a great extent by japa and austerities." [25]

"If you do good action, that will counteract your past evil action. Past sin can be counteracted by meditation, japa, and spiritual thought." [26]

Finally, the teachings of the Holy Mother on finding faults with others:

"Does anything ever happen to another if you enumerate his faults? It only injures you. This has been my attitude from my childhood. Hence I can't see anybody's fault . If a man does a trifle for me, I try to remember him even for that. To see the faults of others! One should never do it. I never do so. Forgiveness is Tapasya, (austerity)." [27]

"If you want peace of mind, do not find faults with others. Rather see your own faults. Learn to make the world your own. No one is a stranger. The whole world is your own." [28]