Editing Ramakrishna (section)

=== 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}}