Kedarnath Chattopadhyay

This is the sixth story in the series on devotees who had a role in the divine play of Sri Ramakrishna.

- DR. RUCHIRA MITRA

्यमेववैष वृ्ु्े ्ेन लभ्यः

It is attained by him alone whom It chooses (Kathopanishad. 1.2:23)

A Bengali gentleman, staying in the western frontiers of pre-independence India, had deep love for God. One day he was possessed with the agony of not having realised God. He became madly restless. The thought so pained him that he went to jump from the top of a hill and kill himself.

A cowherd boy saw him and said, “What are you doing?”

Thus obstructed, he eagerly asked the boy, “Shall I realise God?”

The boy immediately replied, “Surely you will.”

The man took this assurance as from God himself, and returned to Bengal.

While returning, he inexplicably got down at Bally railway station. In those days Bally was the nearest stoppage to reach Dakshineswar. Alighting in this unfamiliar place, the bewildered man, as if drawn by an invisible force, crossed the river Ganga and came to Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar.

This was Kedarnath Chattopadhyay. Formerly, he used to live at Lahore. At first he frequented the Brahmo Samaj and joined other religious sects in his search for God. Now this divine pull made him an ardent devotee of Sri Ramakrishna. His first visit was in 1880. He is referred to as Kedar in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.