Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play

This is the source biography of Ramakrishna (1836-1886), written by his monastic disciple, Swami Saradananda, and translated into English by Swami Chetanananda. It is derived from first hand sources including interviews with those who knew him. It is also an interpreted description of the entire range of Ramakrishna’s spiritual disciplines and experiences, explained as much as possible in terms of reason and common empirical experience, with reference to Hindu scriptures and spiritual traditions, Western philosophy, Hindu psychology, and Western religious tradition. The setting is Northeast India from 1775 to 1886.

. . . for experienced meditators this book offers delightful and profound answers to deeper questions about traveling the spiritual path.

. . . for scholars this book offers the source biography for Ramakrishna's life and teachings, as well as an authentic look into India's spiritual history and its various religious and philosophical traditions.

. . . for those simply interested in adventure, this book provides absorbing details of the journey through consciousness of one of the greatest spiritual figures of all time.

"Sri Ramakrishna was one of the greatest of India's spiritual adepts of recent times, actively embodying India's profound tradition of plurality. By assimilating the sadhanas, customs and practices of different faiths into his own personal practice, he presented a powerful example of respect for other traditions, even while maintaining a deep fidelity to his own. His transparently pure and well-documented life remains a guide and inspiration to millions on their spiritual path. I am sure many readers will be grateful to Swami Chetanananda for his English translation of Swami Saradananda's authoritative biography of Sri Ramakrishna from the original Bengali." - His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"Detailed eyewitness accounts of spiritual geniuses -- whose impact on history far surpasses that of kings and potentates -- are second only to sacred scriptures in the place they occupy in the library of humanity. Now, at last, we have a splendid translation of the source biography from which all previous accounts of Sri Ramakrishna have drawn. Swami Chetanananda's long-awaited translation of Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play is an epic event in the unfolding saga of world spirituality." - Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions and Why Religion Matters

"That someone should live so fully, burn with divine love so ardently, and teach so profoundly is very rare indeed, but it is all the more unusual to have a detailed contemporary account of such a life.. . . This extraordinary literary work communicates a real sense of Ramakrishna, his life and times." - Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Parkman Professor of Divinity, Harvard University

"The life and teachings of Ramakrishna, an itinerant mystic who espoused the essential truth of all religion, speak directly to the spiritual yearning of humanity… This new translation of Saradananda's inimitable opus is a rare treasure, one that vividly re-creates the experience of being in the presence of an illumined being and reveals anew the implications of such illumination for the rest of us." - Phil Catalfo, Yoga Journal

"This new translation gives us the opportunity to read the life story of this remarkable holy man . . . magnificent." - Library Journal

". . . particularly timely in its testimony of the vitality of all religions and the need for a harmonious religious pluralism." - Publishers Weekly