Editing Ramakrishna (section)

==Early life==
{{stack|float=left|[[File:Kamarpukur Ramakrishna Hut.jpg|thumb|centre|The small house (centre) at [[Kamarpukur]], where Ramakrishna lived. His family shrine (left), with birthplace temple on the right.|upright=1.0]]}}

=== Birth and childhood ===
Ramakrishna was born on 18 February 1836,{{sfn|Gupta|1942|pp=18}} in the village of [[Kamarpukur]], in the [[Hooghly district]] of [[West Bengal]], India, in a very poor and pious [[Bengali Brahmin]] family.{{sfn|Heehs|2002|p=430}} He was the fourth and the youngest child of his parents, father Khudiram Chattopadhyaya, born in 1775, and mother Chandramani Devi, born in 1791. The couple's first son Ramkumar is said to have been born in 1805, a daughter Katyayani five years later, and a second son Rameswar in 1826.{{sfn|Saradananda|1952|pp=21}}

Chandramani Devi was Khudiram's second wife. His first wife died young. Khudiram had ancestral property in the Dere Village of present day West Bengal, India. An unscrupulous landlord, Ramananda Roy, who was angry with Khudiram for refusing to commit perjury, brought a false petition against him in the court and took possession of his ancestral property. Bereft of all property, Khudiram and Chandramani Devi moved to Kamarpukur where a friend, Sukhlal Goswami, gifted them one Bigha and ten Chataks of land for their maintenance.{{sfn|Saradananda|1978|pp=24–26}}{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=October 2022}}

The parents of Ramakrishna are said to have experienced supernatural incidents and visions regarding his birth. In [[Gaya, India|Gaya]], his father Khudiram had a dream in which [[Bhagavan]] Gadadhara (a form of [[Vishnu]]) told him that he would be born as his son. Chandramani Devi is said to have had a vision of light entering her womb from the [[lingam]] in Yogider Shiv [[Hindu temple|mandir]].{{sfn|Chatterjee|1993|pp=46–47}}{{sfn|Harding|1998|pp=243–244}} In another vision following Ramakrishna's birth, his mother saw a strange tall person lying in the bed instead of the baby Ramakrishna.{{sfn|Saradananda|1978|pp=50}}{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=October 2022}}

The family was devoted to the Hindu deity [[Rama]], the family deity was Sri Raghubir{{endash}}an epithet of Rama, and the male children of Khudiram and Chandramani were given names that started with Ram or Rama: Ramkumar, Rameswar, and Ramakrishna.<ref>''More About Ramakrishna'' by Swami Prabhananda, 1993, Advaita Ashrama, First Chapter - Who Gave the Name Ramakrishna and When?</ref> There has been some dispute about the origin of the name Ramakrishna, but there is "...evidence which proves beyond doubt that the name 'Ramakrishna' was given to him by his father..."<ref name="More About Ramakrishna' 1993, page 23"/> Ramakrishna confirmed this himself, as recorded in "M"s diaries, "I was a pet child of my father. He used to call me Ramakrishnababu."<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

=== First spiritual experience ===
Around the age of six or seven, Ramakrishna experienced his first moment of spiritual trance. One morning while walking along the narrow ridges of a [[paddy field]], eating some puffed rice from a small basket, he came across the sight of a flock of milky white cranes flying against the backdrop of a heavy rain laden black clouds, which soon engulfed the entire sky. The ensuing sight was so beautiful that he was absorbed into it and lost all his outer consciousness, before falling down with the rice scattered all over. People nearby who saw this came to his rescue and carried him home.{{sfn|Chetanananda|1990|p=13}}

At age nine, in accordance with Brahminical tradition, the [[sacred thread]] was vested on Ramakrishna, thus making him eligible for conducting ritual worship. He would later help his family in performing worship of their deities.{{sfn|Chetanananda|1990|p=14}} As a result of his devotion in worship, he started to experience [[Bhava samadhi|Bhava-Samadhi]] or [[Savikalpa samadhi|Savikalpa-Samadhi]].{{sfn|Saradananda|1978|p=64}} He reportedly had experiences of similar nature a few other times in his childhood{{emdash}}while worshipping the Goddess [[Vishalakshi]], and portraying the God [[Shiva]] in a drama during the [[Shivaratri]] festival.{{Sfn|Bhawuk|2003}}

=== Education ===
Ramakrishna was sent to the village school where he learned to read and write, but had an aversion towards arithmetic and didn't progress beyond simple addition, multiplication and division. He read the [[Ramayana]], the [[Mahabharata]] and other religious books with devotion. He observed the scholars and found that they were only interested in acquiring wealth and contrasted this with his father's standards of detachment and righteous conduct.{{sfn|Saradananda|1978|pp=65–70}} He later lost interest in this "bread-winning education".{{sfn|Chetanananda|1990|p=13}} He instead became proficient in making images, acting and painting. When he was fourteen years old, he started a drama group with some of his friends and left school to pursue it.{{sfn|Saradananda|1978|pp=65–70}} Ramakrishna had practically no formal education and spoke ungrammatical imperfect Bengali with a rustic accent.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ernst |first=Waltraud |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q-GEAgAAQBAJ&dq=ramkrishna+no+formal+education&pg=PA52 |title=Plural Medicine, Tradition and Modernity, 1800-2000 |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-134-73602-7 |pages=52 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Walsh |first=Judith E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iekF9X3OwwMC |title=A Brief History of India |date=2006 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-0825-4 |pages=160 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fouw |first1=Hart De |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jBzSLNNbTWwC |title=Light on Life: An Introduction to the Astrology of India |last2=Svoboda |first2=Robert |date=2003 |publisher=Lotus Press |isbn=978-0-940985-69-8 |pages=393 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sen |first=Amiya P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=19HUeX3JygwC&dq=ramkrishna+formal+education&pg=PT30 |title=Ramakrishna Paramahamsa: Sadhaka of Dakshineswar |date=2010-04-09 |publisher=Penguin UK |isbn=978-81-8475-250-2 |language=en}}</ref>

[[Kamarpukur]], being a transit-point on the well-established pilgrimage routes to [[Puri]], brought Ramakrishna into contact with many renunciate saints and holy men.{{sfn|Sen|2001|p=92}} He became well-versed in the ''[[Puranas]]'', the ''[[Ramayana]]'', the ''[[Mahābhārata|Mahabharata]]'', and the ''[[Bhagavata Purana]]'', hearing them from the wandering monks and the ''Kathaks''{{endash}}a class of men in ancient India who preached and sang the ''Purāṇas''. He used to sing and enact the songs and scenes from the ''Purāṇas'' to the village women. A trader, Durgadas Pyne, who enforced a strict [[purdah]] on the women in his household, criticised those who would meet Ramakrishna to listen to the ''Purāṇas''. Ramakrishna argued with him that women will be protected through good education and devotion to God, and not through Purdah. Once a challenge was thrown by Durgadas that it was impossible to look into his inner apartments, Ramakrishna accepted the challenge and dressed himself like a weaver woman, then fooled Durgadas with his disguise and entered the inner apartments of his house. Durgadas, defeated, allowed the women to go and listen to Ramakrishna's recitals.{{sfn|Saradananda|1978|pp=72-76}}

Ramakrishna's father died in 1843, a loss which he felt very strongly and made him reticent.{{sfn|Saradananda|1978|pp=56}} He would visit the nearby cremation ground alone to practice spiritual disciplines there.{{sfn|Chetanananda|1990|p=13}} At this stage the family responsibilities fell on his elder brother, Ramkumar, who was about thirty-one years older than him.{{sfn|Saradananda|1952|pp=135}} When Ramakrishna was in his teens, the family's financial position worsened, Ramkumar then started a Sanskrit school in [[Calcutta]] (Jhama pukur lane), whilst also serving as a [[purohit|priest]] there. In 1852, Ramakrishna moved to Calcutta along with his brother to assist him with the priestly work.{{sfn|Harding|1998|p=250}}