31 Facts About Gopaler Ma

Gopaler Ma was a devotee and a householder disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, the saint and mystic from Bengal.

Gopaler Ma was famous for her divine visions of Lord Krishna as a baby and her devotion to the ideals of Sri Ramakrishna.

Gopaler Ma spent the last few years of her life with Sister Nivedita.

Gopaler Ma was initiated into the spiritual life by the family guru of her husband's family and had the child Krishna as her personal deity.

Gopaler Ma sold her jewelry and husband's property and invested the sum of rupees five hundred and lived a simple and contemplative life on that small income of rupees four or five.

Gopaler Ma spent next thirty years of her life in that small room and led a very austere life.

Gopaler Ma followed this routine from 1852 to about 1883.

Gopaler Ma stayed in the South West corner of the garden house.

Gopaler Ma first met Sri Ramakrishna in the year 1884 when she traveled to Dakshineswar temple with her landlady.

One night, in the spring of 1885, while performing her usual spiritual practices, Gopaler Ma had a vision of Sri Ramakrishna which changed into that of a ten-month-old baby.

Gopaler Ma went to meet Sri Ramakrishna the very next day, in whom she saw the embodiment of her divine vision and whom she regarded as her child Gopala.

Gopaler Ma fed Sri Ramakrishna, who was in an ecstatic mood.

Gopaler Ma stayed in Dakshineswar that day and went back home in the evening.

Gopaler Ma had the uninterrupted vision of the chosen ideal for some more time.

The divine visions of Gopaler Ma, which are similar in nature to visions and ecstasies of the mystics around the world, irrespective of their religious affiliations, have been explained in an account of Gopaler Ma, that the rational explanation for such divine visions are that there are finer states of consciousness, which are breached when the mind is pure and tranquil.

Gopaler Ma, upon advice from Sri Ramakrishna, shared her visions with Narendranath Dutta, who was a skeptic and a disbeliever in God with form, owing to his affiliation with Brahmo Samaj.

Gopaler Ma finds mention in several places in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.

Gopaler Ma maintained a very close relationship with Sri Ramakrishna till the latter left his mortal coils in 1886.

Gopaler Ma had a very close relationship with the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, whom she referred to as "Bouma", meaning the daughter-in-law in Bengali.

Gopaler Ma had a special relationship with Swami Vivekananda, whom she referred to as "Naren".

Gopaler Ma even had a vision of Sri Ramkrishna during the Rathayatra festival of Lord Jagannath in Mahesh, when she saw her chosen ideal in the chariot, in the idol of Lord Jagannath and in the surrounding crowd.

Gopaler Ma entertained the American friends and disciples of Swami Vivekananda, like Josephine MacLeod and Sara Bull, when they visited her.

Gopaler Ma did not speak English, but expressed her affection for the foreign devotees through nonverbal gestures like holding the hand and stroking them.

Gopaler Ma had special feelings for Sister Nivedita and formed a bond of affection with her.

Gopaler Ma had at least one disciple, Kusumkumari Devi, a widow, who stayed with her and nursed her during her illness.

Gopaler Ma was taken ill in 1903 and Sister Nivedita took her to her place in Bosepara Lane, where she stayed for the remaining period of her life.

Gopaler Ma died on 8 July 1906 on the bank of the Ganga, in the presence of Sister Nivedita and Sri Sarada Devi, who attended to her before her death.

Gopaler Ma considered herself as a Sanyasini nun during the last ten or twelve years before she died and always wore an ochre cloth, the symbol of renunciation in Hinduism.

Gopaler Ma was very close to Sister Nivedita and despite being an orthodox Brahmin widow, her liberal behavior against the prevailing dogmas of the society helped the movement, esp.

Gopaler Ma was conservative and was extremely meticulous about preserving the purity of her life and ideals.

Gopaler Ma grew less fastidious about the preparation of food and the custom of cleanliness to preserve external purity.