Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play

Here is a highly recommended biography of the great Indian saint Sri Ramakrishna. It was re-translated after the trustees of the Ramakrishna Order saw a need for a new translation of the original work, Ramakrishna: The Great Master. Swami Chetanananda was their perfect choice since he is a Bengali by birth, and  is fluent in American English after living in the USA for over 50 years.

The biography is based on interviews with those who personally knew him. It is also a description of the entire range of Ramakrishna’s spiritual disciplines and experiences, explained as much as possible in terms of reason and common experience, with reference to Hindu scriptures and spiritual traditions. It's a fascinating read of of a powerful and deeply spiritual person. Indeed, it resets our concept of what spirituality is.

For experienced spiritual aspirants, this book offers delightful and profound answers to deeper questions about traveling the spiritual path.

Some Comments:

Sri Ramakrishna was one of the greatest of India's spiritual adepts of recent times, actively embodying India's profound tradition of plurality. By assimilating the sadhanas, customs and practices of different faiths into his own personal practice, he presented a powerful example of respect for other traditions, even while maintaining a deep fidelity to his own. His transparently pure and well-documented life remains a guide and inspiration to millions on their spiritual path. I am sure many readers will be grateful to Swami Chetanananda for his English translation of Swami Saradananda's authoritative biography of Sri Ramakrishna from the original Bengali.

-- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Detailed eyewitness accounts of spiritual geniuses -- whose impact on history far surpasses that of kings and potentates -- are second only to sacred scriptures in the place they occupy in the library of humanity. Now, at last, we have a splendid translation of the source biography from which all previous accounts of Sri Ramakrishna have drawn. Swami Chetanananda's long-awaited translation of Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play is an epic event in the unfolding saga of world spirituality.
- Huston Smith, author of
- The World's Religions and Why Religion Matters

That someone should live so fully, burn with divine love so ardently, and teach so profoundly is very rare indeed, but it is all the more unusual to have a detailed contemporary account of such a life.. . . This extraordinary literary work communicates a real sense of Ramakrishna, his life and times.
- Francis Clooney, S.J.
- Theology Department, Boston College