Being a Hindu girl I’ve always liked reading or hearing about great Hindu women of the past. There are many such as Mirabai, Ansuyadevi and Jhansiki Rani, whose stories have fascinated me since I was a kid.

Recently I read about another such woman, Shri Sharada Devi, lovingly called ‘The Holy Mother’ by followers. She is best known as being the wife of Shri Ramakrishna, one of the most famous God-intoxicated yogis of relatively recent times, who was also the guru of Swami Vivekananda. However, her life is a worthy example in its own right, displaying courage, sweetness, knowledge, wisdom, sacrifice and self-control. No doubt in today’s world certain things are achieved by being aggressive and self-seeking, but often a gentler approach can still allow great achievements and without sacrificing inner peace and balance. And that’s what is lacking in people’s life in this era.

Sharada Devi was born is the small village of Jayarambati in West Bengal in the year 1853. As was the custom in that age, she was married as a very young girl to Shri Ramakrishna, who was also still a boy at that time (the married couple then grows up separately, before being reunited in their adulthood).

At the age of 18 years she went to visit her husband who lived as a yogi in a famous Kali temple in Dakshineshwar, near Calcutta. He had turned Godward in his youth and was well known in the lands as a saint who exhibited strange behaviour (most yogis who have no interest in people’s perception of them start to act in ways that normal worldly people view as “eccentric”).

He gave her a surprisingly warm welcome for a yogi, but sure enough asked her whether she would drag him back down to worldly life at a time when he was trying to attain realization of the Divine. Shri Sharada Devi replied that she was here to help him to seek God realisation. He was thrilled at hearing this, and soon they were living together happily, but did not keep normal marital relations. Instead of seeking conjugal fulfillment, she became his spiritual partner, and learnt spiritual wisdom from him. Theirs became a union of souls. They meditated and worshiped together. She also looked after the needs of the rapidly growing following of Shri Ramakrishna, as well as offering counseling and advice on many matters. It was for this reason that the spiritual family which grew from Shri Ramakrishna (the Ramakrishna Mission) anointed her as their leader when he died.

She carried on overlooking the spread of his teachings and principles throughout the world. At that time, in early 20th century India, it was an unfortunate fact that women were generally looked upon as religiously inferior to men, and certainly less capable of efficient management on a large scale. But nobody ever questioned the authority of Shri Sharada Devi, as authority flowed naturally for her, as from Hindu female saints of the Vedic era.

She was given the title of “THE HOLY MOTHER” because being a teacher she used to solve all the problems of her disciples and like a mother she loved and cared for all of them. This quality of hers won the heart of all her disciples and made her very popular. Everyone who went to see her returned blessed, tamed by her love and affection, in a similar way perhaps to that of Mata Amritanandamayi today. It is said that she used to pray that she could take the sins of all her children and her body suffered as a consequence. She also used to do meditation for the betterment of others’ souls and not herself. After debilitating illness Shri Sharada Devi passed away in July 1920.