SWAMI SARADANANDA
One day at Dakshineswar Sri Ramakrishna in a state of ecstasy sat on the lap of a young man and said afterwards, ‘I was testing how much weight he could bear.’ The young man was none other than Sharat Chandra, and the burden he had to bear in later life as the Secretary of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission required superhuman strength. He succeeded because with implicit faith in the Master he could maintain his equanimity under trying circumstances and could tell all around him, ‘The Master will set everything right. Be at rest.’ Swami Saradananda came of a rich and orthodox brahmin family, living in Amherst Street, Calcutta. His early name was Sharat Chandra Chakravarti. He was born on 23 December 1865. As the time birth was a Saturday evening, many were alarmed as to the future of the child. But an uncle of Sharat Chandra, an expert in astrology, predicted that the newborn baby would be so great that he would shed luster on his family. From his very boyhood Sharat Chandra was so quiet that this could be mistaken for dullness. But soon he showed his extraordinary intelligence in school. In most all examinations he topped the list of successful boys.
