Early Life as Young Ramesh
Sadguru incarnate Sri Sri Mounibaba was born as Sri Ramesh Chandra Chakraborty on June 16th 1894 (Krishna Dwadashi tithi of Jaishtha in 1301 Bengali year) at Panchakhanda Nayagram in the district of Sylhet (now Bangladesh). His father’s name was Sri Ramchandra Chakrabarty and his mother’s name was Shrimati Sarvamangala Devi.
From his very childhood, Ramesh was very intelligent in his studies and had great physical strength. He had a divine character from the very beginning and possessed a spiritual mindset. His heart used to cry for the suffering of the mankind and always craved to do something great. While he was studying in class 10th, he met a very revered Vaishnav sanyasi named Haribol Baba in Karimganj, Assam. He used to do spiritual discussions and kirtan with him. All these surely changed his perspective of the world and one day he decided to leave with him for the higher spiritual pursuit.
Sadhana Pursuits
Ramesh meets Sri Anandamoy Brahmachari at Kashi
Ramesh has visited a lot of pilgrimages including the great Himalayas with Haibol Babaji. Their travels together ignited and heightened Ramesh’s aspirations for spiritual attainment. Finally, they arrived at Kashi (Varanasi) and Ramesh met Sri Anandamoy Brahmachari Paramhansa Dev and found his Sadguru on him. Sri Ananadamoy Baba initiated young Ramesh in a Shakti Mantra and opened his way for the pursuit of fulfilling his dreams. After staying for some time with his Sadguru, serving him and learning sadhana from him, he went to Dakshnieshwar as instructed by his gurudev.
Ramesh Brahmachari sits at Pancha Mundi Asan
He established his asana in the Siddha Panchavati Sthal at Dakshineshwar, where Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa Dev had performed his sadhana and attained siddhi. Dear friends, Dakshineshwar during that era differed greatly from the present day, and it required immense courage for a common person to engage in sadhana there. Within a year, at the tender age of 17, he achieved siddhi in the Panchamundi asana, and one night, Maa Kali graced young Ramesh with her divine presence, illuminating every corner. The young saint attained perfection and became deeply immersed in devotion to the divine mother, transcending the veil of maya.
Mounibaba recounted that during Ramesh Thakur’s days in the Panchavati, numerous jackals, wild dogs, tigers, and snakes would appear, attempting to intimidate him. Additionally, malevolent spirits made numerous attempts to disrupt Ramesh’s Sadhana. However, Ramesh possessed a remarkably strong heart and paid no heed to these distractions, enabling him to swiftly attain success in his endeavors.
Thus Ramesh got success in his tantra sadhana, and got the complete mercy of Mother Kali and became a siddha in a very young age.
Darshan of Mahadev
One full moon night he was in deep meditation under the Bel tree (wood apple) in the garden of Queen Rashmoni. He heard the sound of wooden shoes coming close to him. He opened his eyes and saw a big and tall man wearing a white cloth standing before him. He did not become nervous by the power of his divine mother. He vowed to Lord Shiva with folded hands. In his language and style of saying, “At first sight, you people would have died of heart failure. Ramesh Thakur’s heart is very strong. So I did not fear. Baba blessed me raising His hand and vanished.”
The levitating young saint
One night he was caught levitating inside the Kali temple in Dakshineswar by the group of guards and priests, who found the young saint worshipping the mother goddess with various paraphernalia, shedding streams of tears from the eyes. More details can be found on the biography book. By the order of Maa Kali, a house was built to the young saint, which later came to be known as the Shanti Kutir.
t various times, he visited Kamakhya, Kalighat, Bimala, Bhuvaneswari, Tara Pith, etc and got the darshan of the mother goddess there.
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Getting shelter of Yogi Guru Nigamananda
The divine mother inspired the young sadhu to progress more in his sadhana and hence asked him to start practicing Yoga. On divine direction, he left for the Himalayas and took shelter in an ashram in Rishikesh. He found himself blessed under the shelter of his yogi guru, Swami Nigamananda Saraswati Paramhansa, who trained Ramesh Brahmachari in the practises of Hatha and Raja Yoga.
Ramesh transforms into Sacchidananda Nath Yogishwar Paramhansa
Dedicating himself to rigorous practices, Ramesh mastered the advanced and challenging Kriyas of Hatha Yoga, eventually attaining Siddhi (perfection) in it. He then progressed to achieve full Siddhi in Raja Yoga, culminating in the attainment of Savikalpa Samadhi and ultimately, Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Pleased by his remarkable success, his guru Swami Nigamananda bestowed upon him the name “Sacchidananda Nath Yogishwar” and later honored him with the revered title of “Paramhansa.” Mounibaba is a Nath Yogi in the lineage of Gorakshnath, later on taking the life of an “Avadhoot” Sanyasi, which we will find later on.
He then returned to Dakshineswar and started staying in Shanti Kutir for some time. At that time, his vow of silence (Mouna Vrata) was over and many Brahmacharis of Ramakrishna Mission at that time learned Yogic Kriyas from him. He maintained mum or mouna for tweleve years, hence the locals named his as “Mouni Baba” of Dakshineshwar.
Marriage with Manada Sundari Devi
At the order of his guru, he got married to Srimati Manada Sundari Devi and started living life according to Kaulachar. With the help of his wife, he perfected the most revered Siddhis, that could be achieved. He attained success in “Bindu Sadhana” and became a Maha Yogi. Nothing is impossible in the three worlds for such a yogi. He eventually got three sons and one daughter and maintained his family righteously. It is to be noted that he worshiped his wife as Maa Kali at Kalipada Das’s house in Tollygunge. After some years, he again left for the Himalayas and delved into deep penance for some more years and engaged himself in the top most austerities.
Prema Siddhi at Vrindavan under Vishsheswar Goswami
Again on receiving divine inspiration from God, he left for Vrindavan to complete his sadhana. He got initiated from Prema Siddha Vaishnav Guru, Sri Vivsweswar Goswami of Radha Kund, the disciple of Sri Bijoy Krishna Goswami. He stayed for 14 years in Vrindavan and did Yugal Bhajan under the shelter of his guru. Finally he got the highest perfection of human life, attaining the unalloyed for God, the prema which Mahaprabhu descended to distribute. He got the darshan of Srimati Radharani and was sinking in an ocean of infinite love. At this time, he revealed to the world as Sadguru, the deliverer of the world, under the inspiration from Srimati Radharani and his guru. He had initiated a lot of people in different paths like tantra, gyan, yoga and bhakti. He initiated his disciples in Shakti Mantra, Brahma Mantra and Krishna Mantra, as per need.
Sadguru Mounibaba
Mounibaba has lakhs of disciples ranging from the Great Himalayas to Kanyakumari. He didn’t consider anything while giving “diksha”. Millions of people benefited from him directly or indirectly, either materially or spiritually irrespective of religion, caste, gender or language. Even living beings of higher lokas used to visit him regularly in their ethereal body and get divine inspiration from him for their further upliftment. He was a Brahmavid person and was merged in the universal consciousness.
In Ranibari, he used to do some kriya with ashes (bhasma) also known as Panchatapa in rishi samaj. Inside his room and scattered throughout the surrounding area, a total of 35 dhunis (sacred fire of the Nath Yogis) used to burn ceaselessly day and night. These fires are fueled by the husk of paddy, known as “tosh” in Bengali, as well as fodder. Hence he was also named as “Tosh Sadhu” by the locals. In Ranibari, he organised many Kritans, where people used to cry in ecstasy remembering the days of Mahaprabhu in Navadwip.
Once a young gentleman named Kalipada Das of Tollygunge came to meet him. Sri Kalipada Das was the owner of modern photo studio at Dharamtala, Calcutta. On hearing the powerful activities of the young Sadhu, he went to Dakhineswar to examine the truth. He initially tried to ridicule him first and asked the saint to show him Lord Shiva, otherwise he will have to leave Calcutta. Sri Mouni Baba smiled at him with sympathy and asked him to bring a tiger skin. After some days, the tiger skin was brought. Sri Sri Baba entered his room and sat on his seat wearing the tiger skin and them called him. Kalipada Das went inside the room with curosity and lost himself in a divine visions. He returned to his external consciousness only after Mounibaba touched his body. He started crying in regret and in great ecstasy. He asked for forgiveness a number of times. Whatever he saw, he has certainly fulfilled the goal of his life. Mounibaba then initiated Sri Kalipada Das on his request and his friends also got initaited. He became a great devotee after this and served Mounibaba until his last breath.
He reached the top level of the spiritual world by the grace of his guru. Many close devotees saw Lord Shiva, Maa Kali, Lord Laksmi-Narayan, Lord Radha Govinda, Shri Mahaprabhu in him. He installed the Gopeswar Mahadev linga and Sachchidananda Natheswar Linga. And told that he will always stay there, till the end of creation.
Sadguru always focused on humanity as the ultimate religion. “First of all, know yourself properly following the instructions of your guru, then you will actually serve God by serving others including plants and animals.” He never discriminated against anyone and his heart cried for the sufferers.
Maha Samadhi
Mounibaba used to tell that he is beyond the cycle of birth and death, he just needs to leave his physical body. The great soul left his mortal frame by the practise of yogic breathing and went into Maha Samadhi on 8th March, 1989 (24th of Falgun, 1395 in Bangla calendar) at Ranibari Dham, Assam. Mouni Baba is still alive in his words and instructions. Anyone who offers obeisance to “Om namastubhyam birupaksha namste divya chaksuse, namah pinaka hastaya vajra hastyabhai namah ” mantra, it will directly reach to him. He assured this to his devotees and further told that his devotees will see him while singing Krishna Kirtan with full attention. It has been proved by many disciples including Gurudas and his brother Kushi Ranjan Bhattacharjee.
Pastimes after Mahasamadhi
Well, the post Mounibaba era has just begun. Mounibaba during his lifetime has spread across the seeds of Sanatana Dharma all over. Some seeds has grown successfully and transformed into a big tree, giving shelter to other saplings. And some seeds are still growing now. The Mahavakya “Yugadharma Manavata” or “Humanity as the religion of the age” will surely flourish now in near future and many would be amazed to witness the pastimes of Mounibaba from the celestial planes. He didn’t allow us to preach about him during his lifetime, but now with his divine inspiration the organisation Sri Sri Anandamoy Mounibaba Mission or SRIAMM is actively doing this.
Let’s all wait for the dawn of a new era soon!
Jay Guru!