Gauri Ma: The first disciple of Sri Ramakrishna

Why its important to know about Ma:

First disciple of the legendary Paramahamsa Ramakrishna (the Guru of Swami Vivekananda).

She was also the first woman disciple of the Master.

Opened the first Nari Math (women's spiritual educational organization) in India in 1895 which is running even today- Sri Sri Saradeswari Ashram & Free Hindu Girl’s School.

Solid enduring example of spiritualizing work.

“Gauri is that Gopi who has received the grace of God through many births.”- Sri Ramaskrishna (hereby referred to as SRK)

“If Shakti is dishonoured, there is no raising of human consciousness”- Gauri Ma

Years before Swami Vivekananda was given deeksha by Sri Ramakrishna, there was a spiritual powerhouse called Mridani who was initiated as his first disciple, and his first woman disciple too. The year was 1882 and Mridani was 25 years old-already having spent close to a decade wandering the peaks of the Himalayas on her own in search of the Divine.This was a great even in the spiritual history of humanity and India. SRK offered a bilva leaf in the homa, handed her the orange monastic robes, and named her ‘Gauri Ananda’, who was later called Gauri Ma by her disciples.

Early years

Born in 1857 to an affluent and pious Brahmin household in Bhawanipur, near Kolkata, she displayed an extraordinary thirst for Bhakti as a child. At the age of 13 when she was asked to get ready for marriage, she insisted on marrying ‘a bridegroom who is immortal’ (Krishna). A nun from Vrindavan who had come to stay with the family would worship the Damodar Shaligram Shila, the black fossilized shell stone from the Gandaki river in Nepal that is supposed to be a symbol of Vishnu and Krishna. The rituals for it are intense, and require strict discipline and therefore monks often say, that people can’t keep up with maintaining the Shaligram and come and give it to monasteries to look after them! But Gauri Ma maintained it till the end of her life!

Swami Vivekananda and Gauri Ma

Swamiji would say on seeing her ashram that Gargis, Maitreyis, Arundhatis of the Indian past should come forth from here too. We need 1000’s of Gauri Ma’s with this noble stirring spirit, he would say. One day he said ‘I will take you to America to show them there what great women are born in India.’

Swamiji wanted spiritual people to be heroic. No weak spirituality- one must dare! He would say walk alone if you must like a rhinoceros, fearing nothing, caring for nothing, not trembling at voices or noises. She would say to people who asked her if she was afraid-‘ all fear pertains to the body. I have something within me that no one can harm.’

Swami Vivekananda in 1896 had written her a letter saying that there is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on one wing alone.

Your life’s mission is to serve women- Ma Sarada to Gauri Ma

SRK had known that without education based on spiritual foundations, the advancement of women was impossible, and without that, long-term progress of India was impossible. He was to sow the seeds in his beloved disciple Gauri Ma that were to provide women knowledge, strength and abilities. She had been perfected by the practice of tremendous fasts, meditation, naam japa, solo travels as a mystic, prayers at holy centres in the Himalayas, and other spiritual practices. She had seen firsthand the plight of women of India at that time who lacked the ability to speak up, be good homemakers, pursue spiritual paths, train their children well and have adequate physical mental and emotional strength. She had also in later years met up with pioneers like Tilak,Ramabai Ranade and Irawati Karwe, whose work in women empowerment was inspiring.

SRK told her not to take the women to the Himalayas and make them monastic- no- her work was now in the cities. She, being a wandering isolated mystic would have much preferred the former, but her Guru insisted on the latter- living amidst people in the city and serving them. Her sadhana would help her in molding these women toward empowerment- no more Tapasya was needed. ‘You have been purified by your austerities- sacrifice it to service of women whose lives are full of suffering- for you know what it means by ‘many in one’ and ‘one in many’. One day he told her I am pouring the water, you knead the clay. Your life is for serving the living Goddesses- WOMEN of India. She knew they were suffering from ignorance, superstitions, foolish ideas, irrational beliefs, speechless hearts crushed by societal burdens with no confidence and no rights. This pierced her motherly heart. If a woman cannot understand/alleviate burdens of women, who will, she thought.

 Awaken spiritual thoughts in them, he said. She was so well versed in scriptures that when SRK took samadhi, and Holy Mother, his wife, Ma Sharada was going to break her bangles (as a widow would in those days), he appeared to her and asked her not to do so. He requested her to speak to Gauri, as she knows the scriptures well. Later, Gauri Ma was to tell Ma Sarada that since SRK is the Eternal One and you are Lakshmi, he is ever living and therefore this act would be inauspicious.

SRK would joke with Gauri Ma -who do you like more, me or Sarada Ma (his wife). She would say ‘oh flute player, you are never greater than Radha- when people are in trouble, they call for you and when you are in trouble, your flute calls for Radha!’

A forgotten pioneer in women’s education- an epitome of Dharma & Sharnagati

An organization succeeds because of people of character, not how cleverly it is run. For years she had carried the stone of the Shaligram Shila and devotedly worshipped it day and night, seeing her Krishna in it. This light of devotion was now also shone on the women of India that she was to serve.

Once at Halisahar, the birthplace of saint poet Ramaprasad Sen, she was chanting the Durgasaptashati. A boatman on the Ganges who heard her asked her to go to Kapaleshwar near Barrackpore in Calcutta. He said if you love this place so much, you will love it there more. That river town is where the first Ashrama was set up in 1895 for teaching women spiritual discourses, academic education, housework, Sanskrit and English. In fact at a conference Matrisabha Adhibhesan in 1900, she spoke so movingly on self-sacrifice for a higher cause, scriptures, ideals of Hindu women and spiritual goals of life. The word of her teaching spread widely.

Spiritualized work

A true Karma Yogi, she saw every single action in this path as an offering to her Guru Sri Ramakrishna. No work too big or too small. None. From begging door to door for food or alms for the beneficiaries, to organizing a women’s committee to run the Ashram, Gauri Ma did it all, without a grudge or complaint. ‘Most important is purity of mind- that gives us the grace of Lord. Else human life is hard. In all your work, always remember Him. Pray sincerely to Him’, she would advise all.

 If the cow in the Ashram was too old to give milk and someone insisted on getting rid of her, she would ask ‘would you get rid of your old and ailing mother?’ If someone was being ill-treated in a neighbouring home or drowning in a river, she was always first to the rescue, forgetting about her own life-even rescuing a stray puppy from the roof without thinking of her own safety.

If a donation came which was tainted by wrong means- she would return it, even if the Ashram needed money! Just think about that- in those days a sum of Rs. 50,000 was returned because her clairvoyance showed her the money was unjustly procured by a man from his widowed sister-in-law. She asked him to return the money back to the relative as that would be a big service to the Ashram. ‘Good and bad experiences teach us and make us wise.’

In 1925 there were around 300 students coming for education and 50 full time residents at the Ashram. People would also come for spiritual satsangs or to have their burning spiritual questions answered by Gauri Ma. For example a judge once asked her ‘can I really find God?’, she said ‘the way the letter would reach only with postage, fill your heart with love for Him, that is the postage to see God face to face.’

Humility personified- a great lesson for us

She would, fearless, humble, head held high, never lose hope, never gossip or look back- her great goal was to alleviate the suffering of women and she would remain calm in her tasks- which often included begging for rations. She would say, ‘He who has assigned this work to me will take care of it. If there are obstacles along the way, they do not bother me, and if there is praise- it is not because of any skill on the doer’s (my) part. 

 One day when begging for food for her ashrama, she met a housewife who gave her some lentils and vegetables- she would simply ask for alms for her and women who stayed at ashram never letting the people know who she really was, in post or in God-realization! But a sun’s rays can never be hidden entirely, and the woman asked her servant boy to follow this lady. He saw that while she walked down the road, a well-known Sanskrit scholar and principal of a college, Dr. Satish Chandra Vidyabhushan touched her feet when he saw her on the road, and gave her a ride in his carriage. When the boy narrated this to the housewife, she was apologetic at her off-handedness and went to the ashram to meet Ma and since then became a regular supporter of the centre.

One day she was shown a plaque of a building that was named after Sarada Ma but also Gauri Ma’s name as the benefactor was mentioned in smaller letter under Sarada Devi’s name. She was so angry- she refused to take any credit for this work and asked her ashramites to remove it immediately. The Holy Mother’s name was enough she insisted!

She would say ‘name and fame are like the excreta of pigs. Do your work with detached attitude. Treat name and fame like garbage. When you serve others, what does praise and prestige have to do with it- wanting fame and name is like suicide in spiritual life!!

Several luminaries would visit

Mahatma Gandhi was amazed at her knowledge of the concepts of attachment and non-attachment from the Bhagavad Gita. Sharat Chandra Bose (the brother of Subhash C Bose), eminent freedom fighter Chittaranjan Das and many other dignitaries were supporters of the ashram and would also come to speak with Gauri Ma, whose eyes would often tear up speaking of God and His benevolence. Prafulla Chandra Ray, famous chemist and educationist, was amazed to see the handloom fabrics being woven there, long before the Swadeshi Movement had begun.

She would ask the women in the ashram ‘are you as women any less than anybody else Sadhus were born to women-  women are preservers of society and religion- they have more faith and devotion. If they try, they can realize God more quickly.’ One day she dressed as a man, the garb of her wandering days, and entered the women’s rooms and they shrieked. She was upset at them and said ‘why would you scream and not throw something at me? Can three women not handle one man!’

Once a solicitor told a judge- ‘for a woman, she has single handedly done so much work’ to which the judge said ‘what do you mean for a woman! How many men do you know who could do this!’

Ma would frequently dip in and out of states of samadhi while working- her work was so infused with spiritual conviction. Her work truly was service offered at the feet of Ma Sarada, the wife of SRK. In 1911, the ashrama moved to Calcutta as SRK had once told her it would be in the city that she would serve.

Matrisangha- a sustainable path foward

For permanent change, she realized she would need to create a Matrisangha or a ‘mothers group’ who were sannyasins of ideal character who would dedicate their lives to serving women. These brahmacharinis who she would give special attention and training to would need to perfect their own lives through renunciation and austerity. They would have to be well educated themselves first. This group would then become sannyasinis who would dedicate their lives for women. This organization of Matrisangha became the basis and life of the ashram, and the nuns today follow in the tradition and path set out by Gauri Ma.

Spiritualizing education was truly her goal.

Solely dependent on God

A woman in the wilderness of 1870’s in the Himalayas, wandering alone, face smeared with ash, dressed often like a man, fearing no one, Gauri Ma was the ideal devotee of God. Surrendered firmly to His desires, thinking nothing of her needs. One must also acknowledge the people of these Himalayan villages.  As Swami Vivekananda had once acknowledged, the people of the Himalayan regions don’t have much materially, but they take care of so many mystics in their own way possible. She would also visit Vrindavan in the plains, and all the sacred sites Krishna was said to have appeared at.

One day in a temple, a young boy asked her ‘Ma why do you do intense naam japa from sunset to sunrise? Why not just chant the name one ‘radhe shyam’ and that’s it? She said ‘yes that would be ideal. To say it once with a heart full of love, but to reach that level, one has to go through these austerities and practices.’ In Dwarka’s Ranchhodji temple, she had witnessed a young Krishna who went and sat on the deity’s seat, and she lost consciousness, which was to happen many times after. Her spiritual practices were firming up into this spiritual stability.

SRK enters her life

Having run away from Gangasagar where her family had gone for a pilgrimage, at the age of 18, she was solely dependent on the Divine for her sustenance. She returned home four years later for a brief visit before heading off to Puri in Orissa, where she met Balaram Bose’s father Radha Mohan Basu who invited her to Kolkata to their residence.

On that trip to Kolkata, they asked her to come with them to Dakshineshwar to meet SRK, but she, who had met so many Masters in her travels said, if he truly is a Master he will pull me towards Him- ‘akorshon korbe’- he must do some magic.

Soon she saw two feet appear on her Shaligram and when she went to offer Tulsi to the little altar on which the stone was placed, the leaves fell on the feet of the Lord. She lost consciousness and on awakening, kept insisting that something was pulling at her heart strings.

The pious Bose family took her towards Dakshineshwar, and on guess what she sees when she first sees Sri Ramakrishna on entering the temple- he is spooling a thread! She goes to touch his feet, and they are the same two feet that had appeared on the Shaligram Shila!

She told him ‘ you have been right here in Calcutta and I have roamed here and there for 15 years looking for you.’ To which SRK asked her if all this sadhana she would have then done, if she had found him so easily! She realized who she really was when she met her Master.

Why wander, despite having found the Master?

Despite being with him, she yearned for Vrindavana, and he urged her to go there to do her sadhana and so after three years with him, she left.

Paramahamsa Satyananda Saraswati in 1994 had explained the  four stages for a sannyasin: kutichak, bahudak, hamsa and paramahamsa. In kutichak he lives with the guru. In bahudak he is wandering and goes place to place. In hamsa, he opens an ashram or mandir or hospital and you go for guidance; he'll give you mantra diksha and much good advice. Then finally he enters the paramahamsa avasta (stage) where he has nothing to do with anyone. I do believe Gauri Ma went through all four stages. These mystics when they wander from one religious place to another (for example she would carry the Gangotri water to Rameshwar in Southern India), they infuse these places with power. They also wake up the latent spirituality in the place and people there, it is commonly believed. Also ofcourse they test their own character, by relying solely on God and strengthen their resolve of withstanding any and every difficulty.

Last days

In her last years she re-visited Jaganathpuri and Navadweep (Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s birth place) and also celebrated SRK’s birth centenary for over 25 days.

In her address on All India Radio on SRK’s centenary birth celebrations she said, humans forget the duty of life due to to tamas and involvement in petty affairs of Maya, and they forget God. SRK was born to awaken God consciousness and the eternal Truth.

In a fire ritual a yajna in 1936, she had a dream of moving on fearlessly as she had no attachments left whatsoever. In 1938, she felt the tug on her heart once again and knew it was her Master calling her to Him. He had said 56 years before that unless I pull you, you won’t come. The last day was spent chanting the name of God, hearing the stories of her beloved SRK, and she took Samadhi.