For, is not a mother about compassion, forbearance, forgiveness and fortitude? In the Holy Mother, there is that and far more.

There is same-sighted love for all - not just for those related by ties of blood, community, caste, or religion.

There is her intense spirituality and renunciation.

Underlying it all is her outward ordinariness and her unassuming, modest nature that kept her divine powers hidden so she appears less distant, more accessible.

As numerous instances in her life show, the Holy Mother was Mother of all and, as Swami Vivekananda said, is the ideal of womanhood for this age.

The Holy Mother was born on the 22nd of December 1853 in Jayrambati, a village near Sri Ramakrishna’s village of Kamarpukur in West Bengal, India. Her father, Ramachandra Mukhopadhyay, poor but pious and her mother, Shyama Sundari Devi, loving and hardworking, named her Saradamani.

At about five years of age, in accordance with the customs prevalent in India of that time, the Holy Mother was married to Sri Ramakrishna. It was more in the nature of a betrothal. After the event, she continued to live with her parents while Sri Ramakrishna lived a God-intoxicated life at the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple.

At eighteen, hearing of Sri Ramakrishna’s reported insanity, the Holy Mother asked her father to take her to Dakshineshwar to see if this was really so and to be able to serve him.

There were no trains at that time. Even the hiring of palanquins – a common mode of transportation - was beyond her father’s means. So, they walked a good distance but were forced to hire a palanquin after she went down with fever.

They reached Dakshineswar and were welcomed by Sri Ramakrishna. The Holy Mother was relieved to see his ‘insanity’ was nothing but the idle gossip of worldly minds that could not understand his exalted spiritual state.

But, what of Sri Ramakrishna?

As the fear rose in his mind that his young wife would pull him into a worldly married life, he asked her directly:

“Do you want to drag me into Maya?”

Prompt came the Holy Mother’s reply:

“Why should I do that?’ she said. “I have come only to help you in the path of religious life.”

When she in turn asked how he looked at her, Sri Ramakrishna said:

“I look upon you … as the embodiment of Motherhood.”

Re-assured of her innate spirituality and renunciation, Sri Ramakrishna proceeded to instruct her in every aspect of religious life.

This culminated in his worship of her as Shodashi – a form of Mother Kali - thus awakening the Universal Motherhood latent in her.

Indeed, as devotees and disciples began to gather in increasing numbers around Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi looked after them as if she was their own mother. She could be found content - cooking at all hours of the day when required - even as she lived, slept and made meals in a single room so small she often knocked her head entering it!

Keeping in mind their personal likes, she would prepare khichuri for Rakhal (the future Swami Brahmananda); thick gram daal and thick chapattis for Naren (the future Swami Vivekananda) and see that Baburam (the future Swami Premananda) got extra chapattis!

Years later, when she saw Amjad, a Muslim laborer being fed discourteously by her niece, the Holy Mother rebuked her saying:

“If you serve a person in this way, can he eat with relish? You give the things to me and I will serve him.”