Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita

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Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita
The 5 volumes of Kathamrita for display at Kathamrita Bhavan.
AuthorMahendranath Gupta
Original titleশ্রীশ্রীরামকৃষ্ণ-কথামৃত
CountryIndia
LanguageBengali
GenreSpirituality
PublisherKathamrita Bhavan
Publication date
1902, 1904, 1908, 1910 and 1932
Sri Ramakrishna
, and the author of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita.

Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita (Bengali: শ্রীশ্রীরামকৃষ্ণ-কথামৃত, Śrī-Śrī-Rāmakṛṣṇa-Kathāmṛta, The Nectar of Sri Ramakrishna's Words) is a Bengali five-volume work by Mahendranath Gupta (1854–1932) which recounts conversations and activities of the 19th century Indian mystic Ramakrishna, and published consecutively in years 1902, 1904, 1908, 1910 and 1932. The Kathamrita is regarded as a Bengali classic[1] and revered among the followers as a sacred scripture.[2] Its expurgated translation into English is entitled The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (1942).

Methodology and history

Vaishnava text, the Bhagavata Purana.[7]

The pre-history of the Kathamrita has been discussed in R.K.Dasputa's essay (Dasgupta 1986).[8] The first volume (1902) was preceded by a small booklet in English called A Leaf from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (1897).[8] After the death of Ramakrishna, the growing public recognition would have encouraged Gupta to make his diary public. M thought that his was an important medium for public dissemination of Ramakrishna's ideas. M also sought Sarada Devi's appraisal before the publication of the dairy.[9] Between 1898 and 1902, transliterated excerpts from his diary were published in leading Bengali journals like Bangadarshan, Udbodhan, Hindu Patrika, Shaitya Patrika and Janmabhumi.[9] The first four volumes were published in 1902, 1904, 1908 and 1910 respectively and the fifth volume in 1932, delayed because of M's health problems.[10] At the time of M's death in 1932, he was contemplating at least six to seven volumes, after which he hoped to rearrange the entire material chronologically.[6][10]

According to

Tyagananda and Vrajaprana write, "...at the time of M' death, he had enough diary material for another five or six volumes. Poignantly and frustratingly, M's diary notations were as sparse as they were cryptic. As a result, M's Kathamrita project ended with the fifth volume. And, lest there be any misunderstanding, it needs to be said that the sketchy notations which constitute the remainder of M's diary belong solely to M's descendants, not to the Ramakrishna Order. It also needs to be pointed out that, according to Dipak Gupta, M's great-grandson, scholars can, and have, seen these diaries."[6]

Contents

The Kathamrita contains the conversations of Ramakrishna from 19/26 February 1882 to 24 April 1886, during M's visits.

Shakta poet.[13][14]

Translations

Several English translations exist; the most well-known is

culturally sensitive
.

A translation by Sachindra Kumar Majumdar, entitled Conversations with Sri Ramakrishna, is published electronically by SRV Retreat Center, Greenville NY, following the original five-volume format of the Kathamrita.[16]

The latest complete translation, by Dharm Pal Gupta, is intended to be as close to the Bengali original as possible, conveyed by the words "Word by word translation" on the cover. All 5 volumes have been published.[17]

References and notes

  1. ^ a b Sen 2001, p. 32
  2. ^ a b Jackson 1994, pp. 16–17
  3. ^ Sen 2001, p. 42
  4. ^ a b c Tyagananda & Vrajaprana 2010, pp. 7–8
  5. ^ Sen 2001, p. 28
  6. ^ a b c Tyagananda & Vrajaprana 2010, pp. 12–14
  7. ^ Tyagananda & Vrajaprana 2010, pp. 10
  8. ^ a b Sen 2001, p. 27
  9. ^ a b Sen 2001, pp. 29–31
  10. ^ a b Sen 2001, pp. 46–47
  11. ^ Sarkar 1993, p. 5
  12. ^ Sen 2006, pp. 172–173
  13. ^ Hixon 2002, pp. 16-17
  14. ^ Harding 1998, p. 214
  15. OCLC 4577618
  16. ^ "Conversations with Sri Ramakrishna". SRV Retreat Center. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017.
  17. ^ "Sri Dharm Pal Gupta started the task of translating them into English, maintaining the same spirit of faithful translation. And before he left this world in 1998, he had completed the colossal work of translating all the five parts of Kathamrita into English.", Publisher’s Note, Monday, 1 January 2001, http://www.kathamrita.org Archived 4 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography

External links
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