Saradamani Mukhopadhyay was born in 1853 in the village of Jayrambati in Bengal, to a poor and pious brahmin family. As was the custom, she was married at the age of five to Gadadhar Chattopadhyay — later Sri Ramakrishna — then twenty-three, and remained with her parents. She grew up cooking, tending cattle and caring for her younger brothers, with no formal schooling.
“If you want peace of mind, do not find fault with others. Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; the whole world is your own.”Her last advice, given shortly before her death
At eighteen, hearing rumours that her husband had gone mad, she walked with her father to Dakshineswar to see him for herself. Ramakrishna received her with great affection.
Dakshineswar
At Dakshineswar she lived in a tiny room in the nahabat, the music tower, cooking for Ramakrishna and his visitors and caring for him. Their marriage remained one of spiritual partnership. In 1872, on the night of the Phalaharini Kali Puja, Ramakrishna worshipped her as the Divine Mother in the Shodashi puja, offering the fruits of his spiritual practice at her feet.
Mother of the order
After Ramakrishna's death in 1886 she lived between Jayrambati and Calcutta, where the monks built the Udbodhan house for her. She initiated thousands of devotees, guided the young monks of the Ramakrishna order, including Vivekananda, and was consulted on its decisions. To all who came — monks and householders, rich and poor, Indians and Westerners such as Sister Nivedita — she was simply "Mother".
Gentle strength
Her life was outwardly ordinary — cooking, cleaning, caring for difficult relatives — but those around her saw in her unshakeable calm and love. She treated a robber she met on the road as her own father, fed a Muslim labourer as her son, and gave practical advice on work, family and prayer. She died in 1920.
How they are remembered
Holy Mother's birthday is celebrated across Ramakrishna Math and Mission centres in December. The Sarada Math, an order of women monastics founded in 1954, carries her name, and her birthplace at Jayrambati is a place of pilgrimage.
Ekatmata Stotra · Stanza 11
Named in Stanza 11 of the Ekatmata Stotra — six women of the last four centuries.
लक्ष्मीबाई अहल्या च चेन्नम्मा रुद्रमादेवी।
निवेदिता शारदा मातृविभूत्य: नमो नमः॥
Sources: Wikipedia: Sarada Devi · Wikipedia: Sri Sarada Math. Written afresh for The Hindu Book; corrections welcome at [email protected].
