Mahendranath Gupta
| Mahendranath Gupta | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
14 July 1854 Calcutta, West Bengal, India |
| Died | 4 June 1932 (aged 77) Calcutta, West Bengal, India |
| Known for | Author of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, teacher of Paramahansa Yogananda |
Mahendranath Gupta (Bengali: মহেন্দ্রনাথ গুপ্ত) (14 July 1854 – 4 June 1932), (also famously known as M and Master Mahashay), was a disciple of Ramakrishna—a 19th-century mystic and the author of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, a Bengali classic. He was also a teacher to Paramahansa Yogananda, a famous 20th century yogi, guru and philosopher.
Mahendranath was born to Madhusudan Gupta and Swarnamayi Devi in a Vaidya-Brahmin family in the Shimuliya section of Calcutta of West Bengal. After elementary education at the Hare School, he attended Presidency College, receiving his B.A. in 1874. Gupta was a gifted student and performed consistently well until 1874 till he graduated from Presidency College. In 1874 he was married to Nikunja Devi, daughter of Thakur Charan Sen and a relative of Keshub Chunder Sen, a Brahmo Samaj leader. After some time working for the government and a merchant house, he began teaching English, Psychology, and Economics at various colleges. Eventually he became headmaster of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's high school, where he was called "Master Mahashay"—just as he was often addressed in Ramakrishna's circle and later by Yogananda.
As an adult, Mahendranath, like some of the other disciples of Ramakrishna, was connected with the Brahmo Samaj for several years. Mahendranath had lost his mother at a very early age and was experiencing domestic friction in the joint family. As the friction within the joint family increased, Mahendranath decided to commit suicide. At this critical juncture, Mahendranath's nephew took him to the temple garden of Dakshineswar Kali Temple, where Ramakrishna, a mystic and the chief priest of the Kali temple lived. It was here that Gupta met Ramakrishna for the first time and this meeting was a turning point in his life. Years later, when Mahendranath was asked about the greatest day in his life, he said, "the day I had my first darshan of Thakur [Ramakrishna] in February 1882." According to other traditional accounts, Mahendranath related that he may have met Ramakrishna for the first time when he was four years old and became separated from his mother while visiting the Dakshineswar Kali Temple. He began crying, and a blissful and youthful man came up and consoled him. He believed it to be Ramakrishna, who was then a priest at the Kali temple.
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