Built in the 1770s, the 250-year-old double storey ochre-coloured building situated at No. 7 Girish Avenue in the Baghbazar area of North Kolkata, popularly known as “Balaram Bhavan” or “Balaram Mandir”, is of paramount importance to the Ramakrishna movement. It is also referred as Sri Ramakrishna’s ‘second citadel’ or ‘Baghbazar fort’. As the Mother Kali temple premises in Dakshineswar was his place of intense spiritual sadhana, enlightenment, and ministration, ‘Balaram Mandir’ was Sri Ramakrishna’s place of contact and residence in the city of Kolkata.
Numerous incidents of Sri Ramakrishna’s divine play on earth were played out at Balaram Mandir. The place has not only been sanctified by the tread and dust of his blessed feet but also of Sri Ma Sarada, Swami Vivekananda and all his brother disciples, besides countless direct disciples of the Holy Trio. Even today, it is considered spiritually ‘alive’; devotees seeking spiritual advancement find it most conducive to pray and meditate here.
Even as the building is named after one Balaram Basu, it belonged to his elder cousin, the famous lawyer - Hariballabh Basu - who had purchased it from a theatre personality, Girish Chandra Bandopadhyaya, in 1874-75. Balaram Basu hailed from a staunch Vaishnava family based in Cuttack; after his eldest daughter moved to Kolkata upon her marriage, it was Hariballabh who asked Balaram to take up residence at the building in 1881.
Balaram Basu had his first darshan of Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar on 1st of January 1881. On seeing him, Sri Ramakrishna remarked that in one of his Samadhis, he had seen Balaram in the group of minstrels accompanying Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This affirmation by Sri Ramakrishna of Balaram’s past life as a devotee of Lord Vishnu created a deep bond between Balaram and Sri Ramakrishna from their very first meeting. Sri Ramakrishna started visiting Balaram’s home from 1881 and it is said that he would have visited the place more than 100 times in his lifetime.
Countless must have been the divine events played out at Balaram’s home when Sri Ramakrishna visited the place. The building has borne witness to them all. Sri Ramakrishna used to stay in the room on the first floor that is just to the right as you climb up the stairs. This room is now the shrine. The adjoining room was a large meeting hall, the baithak-khana, where all the devotees gathered. This is now the prayer-hall. The home-deity, Lord Jagannath, was and continues to be housed in the room in the northern corner on the first floor. As devotees of Lord Jagannath, the Basu family organised the Ratha Yatra festivals every year with much fanfare. It is said that Sri Ramakrishna participated in these festivals from 1881 to 1885 when he would pull the Ratha for a while and then sing kirtans and dance to them for a long, long time. It is also learnt that Sri Ramakrishna dance was mesmerizing; every now and then devotees were witness to him passing into Samadhi and radiating the bliss of God vision.
Many of Sri Ramakrishna’s devotees lived in Baghbazar, especially in the Bosepara area. Girish Chandra Ghosh, Chunilal Basu, Kalinath and his brother Dinanth Basu, Golap Ma, Yogin Ma, and a host of others. Young Narendra Nath (later Swami Vivekananda) lived a little way off in the Simla Street area. Sri Ramakrishna’s visits to Balaram Mandir gave them easy access to him in Kolkata rather than having to go all the way to Dakshineswar. Numerous were the occasions that devotees had with him, sessions where divine wisdom was imparted interspersed with devotional singing; sometimes by Narendra Nath whose mellifluous voice and soulful renderings brought delight to everyone. Sri Ramakrishna was the harbinger of joy filling hearts with hope and good cheer. Being with him was unique, his very presence could raise a devotee’s human consciousness to divine levels. Many had deep spiritual experiences in his company.
The ‘Kathamrita’, ‘Lilaprasanga’ and other reminiscences of disciples and devotees have recorded some of his visits to Balaram Mandir. One episode that stands out is a discussion between him and Master Mahashay on 28th July 1885 at 10:45 pm.
Sri Ramakrishna: "Well, after seeing all this, what do you feel?"
M: "I feel that Christ, Chaitanya Deva, and yourself — all three are one and the same. It is the same Person that has become all these three."
Sri Ramakrishna: "Yes, yes! One! One! It is indeed one. Don't you see that it is He alone who dwells here in this way."
As he said this, Sri Ramakrishna pointed with his finger to his own body.
M: "You explained clearly, the other day, how God incarnates Himself on earth."
Sri Ramakrishna: "Tell me what I said."
M: "You told us to imagine a field extending to the horizon and beyond. It extends without any obstruction; but we cannot see it on account of a wall in front of us. In that wall there is a round hole. Through the hole we see a part of that infinite field."
Sri Ramakrishna: "Tell me what that hole is."
M: "You are that hole. Through you can be seen everything — that Infinite Meadow without any end."
Sri Ramakrishna was very much pleased. Patting M.'s back, he said: "I see you have understood that. That's fine!"
Sri Ramakrishna passed away on 16th August 1886. A portion of his holy ashes were taken and kept at Ramchandra Dutta’s Garden House in Kankurgachi. Unknown to others, the major portion of the ashes including the Atmaram part was brought to Balaram Mandir by Niranjan and Shashi (later Swamis Niranjanananda and Ramakrishnananda) and kept in the shrine housing the home deity of Sri Jagannath. For the next two months, daily Puja was performed before the box containing the ashes was moved to the Baranagore Math and installed in the shrine there.
Once when Krishnabhavini Devi, Balaram’s Basu’s wife, had fallen ill, Sri Ramakrishna had asked Sri Ma Sarada to visit Balaram Mandir to see her. After Sri Ramakrishna passed away, Balaram Babu brought grieving Ma Sarada to his home on 21st August 1886 and made her stay there. On 30th August, the Holy Mother left on a pilgrimage to Vrindavan accompanied by Golap-Ma, Lakshmi Devi, Master Mahashay’s wife, Swami Yogananda, Swami Abhedananda and Swami Adbhutananda. At Vrindavan, they put up at Kalababu’s Kunj, a family property of Balaram Basu. Sri Sri Ma returned from the pilgrimage on 31st August 1887 and stayed at Balaram Mandir for a while before proceeding to Kamarpukur, Sri Ramakrishna’s ancestral home.
Between 1886 and the time when Swami Saradananda had “Mayer Bari” built especially for her in 1909, the Holy Mother stayed at Balaram Mandir on several occasions. She stayed in a room in the inner quarter located at the northwest corner on the first floor. The room known as “Mayer Ghar” is now a shrine dedicated to her.
Once again, with her presence, many divine events were played out at Balaram Mandir. All monastic disciples and lay devotees of Sri Ramakrishna regarded the Holy Mother as a living goddess, the Divine Mother Herself, and worshipped her as such. While some of these events have been chronicled, the one given below will convey Holy Mother’s true divine nature.
Once, while meditating on the roof of the house, the Holy Mother fell into deep Samadhi. She later told Yogin Ma her experience, “I saw, I was in a far-off place. All were treating me there with utmost love. I became very beautiful. The Master was there, and with great tenderness they made me sit by his side. I can’t describe the bliss that I enjoyed. When I regained consciousness a little, I saw the body lying here. Then the thought came to me, ‘How can I enter into this ugly body?’ I had not the least desire to resume it. At long last, I managed to get into it; and then consciousness returned to it.”
Balaram Babu passed away at his home on 13th April 1890. The Holy Mother was then present there. Krishnabhavini Devi, Balaram’s wife, had a vision where she saw Sri Ramakrishna descend on the roof of the house in a shining chariot (rath) and take his favourite son, Balaram, away. After his demise, Balaram’s only son, Ramakrishna Bose, took it upon himself to selflessly serve the Holy Mother and other monastic disciples.
After his victorious return from the West, Swami Vivekananda convened a meeting of monastic and lay devotees in the meeting hall on the first floor of Balaram Bhavan on 1st of May 1897. At the meeting the ‘Ramakrishna Mission Association’ was formed. Every Sunday, meetings would be held, and matters discussed; Swami Akhandananda’s first relief mission in Mahula village in Murshidabad district was also formalised here.
The association, in time, transformed into the Ramakrishna Mission, now famed the world over. The 125th year of this momentous occasion falls in May 2022.
Under the leadership of Swami Saradananda, the first meeting of ‘Vivekananda Society’ was also held in Balaram Bhawan. This society has been providing yeomen service in disseminating and putting into action the ideas of the Ramakrishna Movement to this day.
At Balaram Mandir, Sister Nivedita received from her Guru, Swami Vivekananda, the idea of starting a school for girls. Subsequently, she convened a meeting there of leading personalities of the area to discuss women’s education and the prospect of starting a school for young girls of the neighbourhood. Swami Vivekananda was present at the meeting. The school was formally inaugurated by the Holy Mother herself on 13th November 1898 in the presence of Swamis Vivekananda, Brahmananda, and Saradananda. The formation of the school laid the foundation of the future formation of ‘Sri Sarada Math’, a monastic organisation exclusively for women on the lines of Ramakrishna Math.
During her lifetime, Sister Nivedita visited Balaram Mandir several times. Her school was in the vicinity, and she lived very close by at 16 Bosepara Lane which has now become the Sister Nivedita Heritage Museum and Knowledge Centre.
Balaram Mandir was regarded as a very special place by all monastic and lay devotees of Sri Ramakrishna. It was frequently visited by them. Among the direct disciples, Latu Maharaj (Swami Adbutananda) and Hari Maharaj (Swami Turiyananda) spent a long time here. The room at the southeast corner on the ground floor as one enters the building was their place of residence. It is hallowed room where two illumined souls had lived. In addition, two direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Premananda and Swami Brahmananda, breathed their last in the premises on 30th July 1918 and 10th April 1922 respectively. Swami Brahmananda passed away in the meeting room on the first floor on. In a vision before his death, he narrated how Sri Krishna in the form of a five-year-old child was dancing around him and taking him away.
The lady disciples of the Master, Gauri Ma, Yogen Ma, Golap Ma, Gopaler Ma, Lakshmi Didi among others all used to visit and periodically stay at Balaram Bhawan.
Balaram Basu’s son and his two daughters drew up a will that stated that Balaram Mandir should preserve the memories of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ma Sarada, and Swami Vivekananda, and serve their disciples. In accordance with the will, Balaram Mandir Trust was constituted on 1st of March 1922. In 1974, the management of the two rooms on the first floor where Sri Ramakrishna stayed and the meeting hall were transferred to Ramakrishna Math, Belur. On 15th July 2002, Balaram Mandir Trust merged with Belur Math Trust. The place has now been renamed Ramakrishna Math (Balaram Mandir) and is fully a branch Centre of Ramakrishna Math.
Balaram Mandir continues to be a place of pilgrimage for all monastic and lay devotees of the Ramakrishna Order. The spirituality that radiates from here is a matter to be experienced. The premises has brought peace, solace, and fulfilment to millions in the past; it will continue to do so for all times to come.
Jai Sri Ramakrishna, Jai Ma Sarada, Jai Swamiji Maharaj, Jai Jagannath Deb.
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shantihih!