SWAMI PREMANANDA
Sri Ramakrishna use to refer to half a dozen among his disciples as Ishwarakotis (divine and ever free); and to this select group belonged Swami Premananda. Talent and greatness, like cream, do not always float on the top; oftentimes they lie hidden like gems in the dark caves of the sea. And though the aroma of this saint of angelic beauty and sweetness did not travel beyond a small circle of devotees and acquaintances, yet he occupies a place of great eminence among the children of Sri Ramakrishna. Swami Premananda was born on 10 December 1861, in the prosperous and picturesque village of Antpur, in the district of Hooghly, Bengal. His parents came of two well-to-do and influential Kayastha families of the village. His father Taraprasanna Ghosh was a man of piety, who had inherited enough means to meet the demands of the family with ease and to conduct the daily service of the household deity, Sri Lakshminarayana. Taraprasanna Ghosh was married to Matangini Dasi, daughter of Abhay Chandra Mitra, of the same village. Like her husband, she was also of devout disposition; and they formed a happy pair. The couple had a
