Holy Mother in the World

Sri Sarada Devi, reverently and affectionately referred to as Holy Mother by those affiliated with the Ramakrishna Movement, lived from 1853 to 1920. She lived in the world but was not of the world.

- Janet Walker

As protector of the Ramakrishna Order she enabled the Order to flourish in India even under the increasing strictures of British rule. And as the nurturer of the Order, she encouraged its connection with the New World through her sending of monks to America in order to spread the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna.

Swami Chetanananda discusses an important incident when Holy Mother intervened to protect the Ramakrishna Order in its relations with the British rulers. In 1916 the Governor of the Bengal Presidency was Lord William Gibson Carmichael (1859–1926). Because some Indians participating in anti-British activities were inspired by the works of Swami Vivekananda, Carmichael in December 1916 ‘accused the Ramakrishna Mission of giving shelter to political revolutionaries under the umbrella of its philanthropic activities’. When Swami Saradananda, the then Secretary of the Order, informed Holy Mother of this development, she listened to him calmly and then assured him that the monks of the Order had ‘shunned personal worldly enjoyment and dedicated their lives to serve the country and suffering people’. She ended her remarks with a firm expression of confidence that the monks dedicated to Ramakrishna would not hypocritically live as monks while engaging in political activity: ‘My son, why would they pretend?’ She then urged him to request an interview with the Governor, assuring him that, as Carmichael was ‘the representative of the king. If you explain to him the activities of the Ramakrishna Mission, he will definitely listen.’