Ramakrishna Paramahansa was a great religious leader of India. He was born in a Brahmin family in the Hooghly district, West Bengal. He taught that God-realisation is the only goal of life.  Visions, trances, ecstasies crowded upon him and most of his time was spent in intense spiritual activities. 

Paramahansa proceeded under various spiritual guides to experience the whole gamut of mystical relationship described in Hindu scriptures. Ramakrishna reaffirmed on the basis of his own spiritual experiments that all creeds and religions led ultimately to the same goal. He exhorted people not to waste time squabbling over this or that religion but to seek God with pure and dedicated heart. His sayings and story of his life remain to this day a major source of religious guide-lines. Under his great influence he attracted to him a group of young disciples. Outstanding among them was Swami Vivekananda.