Yogin Ma (Bengali: যোগীন মা) (16 January 1851 - 4 June 1924), born Yogindra Mohini Biswas, was one of the principal female disciples of Sarada Devi, the wife and spiritual consort of the Hindu mystic

Ramakrishna Ramakrishna Paramahansa ( bn, রামকৃষ্ণ পরমহংস, Ramôkṛṣṇo Pôromohôṅso; , 18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886),——— — also spelled Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, born Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya,, was an In ...

. Together with

Gopaler Ma Gopaler Ma (translation: Mother of Gopala, an epithet for Sri Krishna; 1822 – 8 July 1906) was a devotee and a householder disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, the saint and mystic from Bengal. Her birth name was Aghoremani Devi, but she came to be kno ...

, she was a constant companion of Sarada Devi, revered as the holy mother in the monastic order of Ramakrishna. Yogin Ma was a major witness and an active contributor to the early formation of the order. She stayed with the Sarada Devi in the

Udbodhan House ''Udbodhan'' is the only Bengali publication of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, started by Vivekananda in January 1899, with Trigunatitananda as its founding editor Over the years, it also grew into a publishing house, and remain ...

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, which was built by

Swami Saradananda Saradananda (23 December 1865 – 19 August 1927), also known as Swami Saradananda, was born as Sarat Chandra Chakravarty in 1865, and was one of the direct monastic disciples of Ramakrishna. He was the first Secretary of the Ramakrishna Ma ...

for the use of Sarada Devi.

Biography

Early life

Yogin Ma was born as Yogindra Mohini Biswas in

on 16 January 1851 to Prasanna Kumar Mitra, a successful physician. She was given in marriage to Ambika Charan Biswas at the age of six or seven, as it was the prevailing custom in Bengal to marry off girls at an early age. Her husband squandered all his wealth and, despite her best attempts of rehabilitating and reforming him, became a habitual drunkard. Yogin Ma finally left her husband's place with her only daughter and took shelter with her widowed mother in her father's house in Bagbazar area of Calcutta.

Spiritual awakening

Adversity propelled her to develop intense yearning for God Realization and a chance encounter with

, the 19th century mystic saint of Bengal, changed her life. In 1882, Yogin Ma first met Ramakrishna in the house of

Balaram Bose Balaram Bose (December 1842 – 13 April 1890) was one of the prominent householder disciples of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He was the son of Radhamohan Bose. He is often referred in ''The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna''. Ramakrishna often visited his ...

, who was a great devotee. After a few meetings in

Dakshineswar Dakshineswar is a locality in the North 24 Parganas under the jurisdiction of Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority and is very close to Kolkata. This place is historically famous for Dakshineswar Kali Temple, locally known as Maa Bhabata ...

, Ramakrishna initiated her and became her Guru and mentor. Yogin Ma first met Ramakrishna's wife and spiritual consort Sarada Devi in Dakshineswar, in the building of Nahabat, where Sarada Devi stayed. By staying as a close companion of Sarada Devi, Yogin Ma had recorded and shared some of her day-to-day experiences, which serves as an important testimony to the early life and the spiritual practices of Sarada Devi during her stay in Dakshineswar. She recounted many incidents of her life during this period - her travels to Vrindavan after Ramakrishna's demise, her travels to Puri and stay in Calcutta in several of her devotees' house, including that of

. Life lived by Ramakrishna and Sarada Devi inspired Yogin Ma to practise spiritual disciplines, and lead a holy and pure life like a nun. She also studied the scriptures, esp. the

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

and

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...

and the

Puranas Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...

. Thus, later in her life she was able to help

Sister Nivedita Sister Nivedita ( born Margaret Elizabeth Noble; 28 October 1867 – 13 October 1911) was an Irish teacher, author, social activist, school founder and disciple of Swami Vivekananda. She spent her childhood and early youth in Ireland. She was ...

in writing one of her famous books, "The

Cradle Tales of Hinduism ''Cradle Tales of Hinduism'' (1907) is a collection of stories by Sister Nivedita. It is an introduction to Hindu mythology; the stories come from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and other Hindu sources and are presented as they were told in India ...

" . Ramakrishna had acknowledged her spiritual prowess by predicting that, "She is not an ordinary flower that will blossom quickly, she is a thousand-petalled lotus that will open slowly." When Ramakrishna died on 16 August 1886, Yogin Ma was in

Vrindaban Vrindavan (; ), also spelt Vrindaban and Brindaban, is a historical city in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in the Braj Bhoomi region and holds religious importance in Hinduism as Krishna spent most of his childho ...

. There she was joined by Sarada Devi of whom she later became a lifelong companion. Sarada Devi used to call her "Meye Yogen" or "lady Yogen", for distinguishing her from Swami Yogananda, who was also known as "Yogen". Her daughter Ganu died and she was left with three grandsons who were brought up under the tutelage of

, and at least one of them later joined the order and was initiated by Sarada Devi.

Character

Yogin-ma was a woman of strong determination. Whatever she undertook, she carried through to perfection. Yogin-ma looked on the monastic disciples as her own children and they, including

Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...

in turn, were very free with her. She was an expert cook, and Vivekananda often requested her to prepare a meal for him. The American disciple of

Swami Paramananda Paramananda (1884–1940) was a swami and one of the early Indian teachers who went to the United States to spread the Vedanta philosophy and religion there. He was a mystic, a poet and an innovator in spiritual community living. Biography Bi ...

, sister Devmata recollects about her, "Yogin-ma always seemed to me one of the noblest of Ramakrishna's disciples… She did not abandon her householder life, but no nun in a cloister was more rigid in her spiritual observance than she… No service was ever omitted, no care neglected." Her life was very austere, and she accompanied Sarada Devi in performing the 'Austerity of the Five Fires', considered as a very sacred and dangerous ritual.

Later life

She later came back to Calcutta along with Sarada Devi and often stayed with her in

in Calcutta. Toward the end of her life, Yogin Ma took the final monastic vows according to the Vedic tradition from Swami Saradananda. Baburam Maharaj (Swami Premananda) was also present at the ceremony. She died on 4 June 1924, at the Udbodhan House, at the age of seventy-three.Women disciples of Ramakrishna
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References

External links

Yogin Ma's House
{{Ramakrishna 19th-century Hindu religious leaders 20th-century Hindu religious leaders 1851 births 1924 deaths Ramakrishna Mission Indian women religious leaders Vedanta Feminism in India Bengali Hindus Scholars from Kolkata 19th-century Indian educational theorists 20th-century Indian educational theorists 19th-century Indian women educational theorists 20th-century Indian women educational theorists Indian women educational theorists Women educators from West Bengal Educators from West Bengal 19th-century Indian women scientists 20th-century Indian women scientists 19th-century Indian scientists 20th-century Indian scientists 19th-century Indian educators 20th-century Indian educators 19th-century Indian women educators 20th-century Indian women educators