Sharadadevi ; Sharodā Debi (22 December 1853 – 20 July 1920), born Kshemankari/ Thakurmani/Sharadamani Mukhopadhyay, was the wife and spiritual consort of Sri Ramakrishna, a nineteenth-century Hindu mystic and saint. Sharadadevi is also reverentially addressed as the Holy Mother (Sri Sri Maa) by the followers of the Sri Ramakrishna monastic order. Sri Sharadadevi is one of the notable woman saints and mystics of the nineteenth century. She paved the way for the future generation of women to take up monasticity as the means and end of life. In fact the Sri Sharada Mutt and Ramakrishna Sharada Mission situated at Dakshineshwar is based on the ideals and life of Sri Sri Maa. Sri Sharadadevi played an important role in the growth of the Ramakrishna Movement.
Sri Sharadadevi was born in Joyrambati. At the age of five she was betrothed to Sri Ramakrishna, whom she joined at Dakshineswar Kali temple when she was in her late teens. According to her biographers, both lived lives of unbroken continence, showing the ideals of a house-holder and of the monastic ways of life. After Sri Ramakrishna's death, Maa Sharadadevi stayed most of the time either at Joyrambati or at the Udbodhan office, Calcutta. The disciples of Sri Ramakrishna regarded her as their own mother, and after their guru's death looked to her for advice and encouragement. The followers of the Ramakrishna movement and a large section of devotees across the world worship Sri Sri Maa Sharadadevi as an incarnation of the Adi Parashakti or the Divine Mother.
Birth:
Sharadamani Devi was born of Brahmin parents as the eldest daughter on 22 December 1853, in the
quiet village of Jayrambati in present-day West Bengal. Her parents, Ramachandra Mukhopadhyay and Shyama Sundari
Devi were poor. Her father Ramchandra earned his living as a farmer and through
the performance of priestly duties. According to traditional accounts,
Ramachandra and Syama Sundari had visions and supernatural events foretelling
the birth of a divine being as their daughter.
At
Dakshineswar Kali Temple:
At Dakshineswar, Sharadadevi stayed
in a tiny room in the nahabat (music tower). She stayed at Dakshineswar until
1885, except for short periods when she visited Jayrambati. By this time
Ramakrishna had already embraced the monastic life of a sanyasin; as a result,
the marriage was never consummated. As a priest, Ramakrishna performed the
ritual ceremony—the Shodashi Puja where Sharadadevi was made to sit in the seat
of goddess Kali, and worshiped as the divine mother Tripurasundari.
During Ramakrishna's last days,
during which he suffered from throat cancer, Sharadadevi played an important
role in nursing him and preparing suitable food for him and his disciples.
After Ramakrishna's death, Sharadadevi
continued to play an important role in the nascent religious movement. She
remained the spiritual guide of the movement for the next 34 years.
Sharadadevi spent her final years moving back and forth between Jayrambati and Calcutta. In January 1919, Sharadadevi went to Jayrambati and stayed there for over a year. For the next five months she continued to suffer. Shortly before her death, she gave the last advice to the grief-stricken devotees, "But I tell you one thing—if you want peace of mind, do not find fault with others.
Teachings and quotes:
Ø Practice meditation, and by and by your mind will be so calm
and fixed that you will find it hard to keep away from meditation.
Ø The mind is everything. It is in the mind alone that one
feels pure and impure. A man, first of all, must make his own mind guilty and
then alone can he see another man's guilt.
Ø "I tell you one thing. If you want peace of mind, do
not find fault with others. Rather see your own faults. Learn to make the whole
world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; the whole world is your
own."
Ø One must have devotion towards one's
own guru. Whatever may be the nature of the guru, the disciple gets salvation
by dint of his unflinching devotion towards his guru.