Swami Shivananda
| Swami Shivananda | |
|---|---|
Shivananda
|
|
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Order | Ramakrishna Mission |
| Philosophy | Vedanta |
| Personal | |
| Born | Tarak Nath Ghosal 1854 Barasat, Bengal, British India |
| Died | 20 February 1934 (aged 79–80) |
| Religious career | |
| Guru | Ramakrishna |
| Disciple(s) | Swami Rudrananda.. |
Swami Shivananda (1854–1934), born Tarak Nath Ghosal, was a Hindu spiritual leader and a direct disciple of Ramakrishna, who became the second president of the Ramakrishna Mission. His devotees refer to him as Mahapurush Maharaj (Great Soul). Shivananda and Subodhananda were the only direct disciples of Ramakrishna to be filmed. He was a Brahmajnani ("knower of Brahman or the Supreme Being"). Shivananda introduced the celebration of the birthdays of his brother-monks. He was known to have laid the foundation stone of Shri Ramakrishna Temple at Belur Math, which was designed by Swami Vijnanananda.
Shivananda was born in the village of Barasat in Bengal. His father was Ramakanai Ghoshal, a pious Brahmin who had a substantial income as a lawyer. He was a follower of Tantra in his personal life. He and his first wife Vamasundari Devi, the mother of Tarak, provided free boarding and lodging to twenty five to thirty poor students. Ramkanai also knew Ramakrishna personally, as he used to visit Dakshineswar on matters of business.
After completing his school studies, Tarak took up a job with Mackinnon Mackenzie in Calcutta to help his father.
Tarak saw Ramakrishna for the first time at the house of Ramchandra Dutta in May 1880. A few days later he went to Dakshineswar to visit Kali Temple; from then he began to practise intense prayer and meditation under Ramakrishna's guidance. He later wrote "I have not yet come to a final understanding whether he [Ramakrishna] was a man or a superman, a god or the God Himself, but I have known him to be a man of complete self-effacement, master of the highest renunciation, possessed of supreme wisdom, and the supreme incarnation of love."
Tarak married in 1881–82. His father could not afford a dowry for the marriage of his sister as was usual; Tarak therefore agreed to marry a daughter of the prospective bridegroom's family. Three years later his wife died and Tarak started living sometimes in a devotee's house and sometimes in lonely places, till the Baranagar Math was started.
Tarak continued to visit Dakshineswar till Ramakrishna fell ill and was brought, first to the Shyampukur house and then later to the Cossipore Garden House. In Cossipore, Tarak joined with others including Narendranath Dutta, later known as Swami Vivekananda, to serve Ramakrishna.
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