A Portrait of Sri Ramakrishna

A translation of the Bengali biography Sri Sri Ramakrishna Punthi by Akshay, Kumar Sen, one of Ramakrishna's householder disciples. This is the second edition in English, which now contains additional material. It's a large massive book.

The life of Ramakrishna is described by the author, based on his personal experiences with Ramakrishna in addition to accounts given by relatives, neighbors, and people known to Ramakrishna. Written with a devotional and often times philosophical interpretation. Included are many new stories for the West.

The book itself was originally written as verse in Bengali. The translators had the tough task of keeping the spirit of the original while at the same time rendering a good translation. The material itself is written as prose, although the poetry begs to jump off the page as verse. Somehow the translators managed to keep the emotional fervor of the words intact while still telling the story.