Sri Ramakrishna and the Vision of Maa Kaali at Dakshineswar

Dakshineswar

Gadadhar Chattopadhyay was born in 1836 in the village of Kamarpukur in Bengal. In 1856 he became priest of the new Kali temple at Dakshineswar, on the Ganga north of Calcutta.

Worship was not enough for him. He wanted to see the Mother. By his own account the longing became unbearable, and one day he reached for the sword that hung in the shrine, meaning to end his life. At that moment, he said, the room and the temple disappeared and he was lost in an ocean of light, with the Mother present in it.

He went on to practise under a series of teachers: the tantric disciplines with the Bhairavi Brahmani, and Advaita Vedanta with the monk Totapuri, under whom he entered nirvikalpa samadhi. He also lived for a time as a Muslim and later meditated on Christ. He reported the same realisation at the end of each path and summed it up in Bengali as jato mat, tato path: as many faiths, so many paths.

His disciple Swami Vivekananda carried this to the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 and founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897. Its motto is for one's own liberation and for the good of the world, and it runs hospitals, schools and relief work to this day.

What it gave the world

The harmony of religions and, through his disciples, service to people as worship.

At a glance

Tradition

Hindu, Shakta and Vedanta

Place

Dakshineswar Kali Temple, on the Ganga north of Kolkata

Date

About 1856

Source

Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, in English The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Saying

Jato mat, tato path: as many faiths, so many paths

Why it is part of Enlightenment Day 2026

The theme of the 2026 conference is celebrating enlightening experiences, and the question it puts to every speaker is how enlightenment connects with an awakening of consciousness that brings good to the world. This account is one of eight the day starts from. The conference is online on Saturday 10 October 2026.

The teacher named here is a subject of the day's talks. Naming them does not mean that they, or any institution that carries their work, take part in or endorse the event.