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God Lived With Them: Life Stories Of Sixteen Monastic Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna
Who is Sri Ramakrishna? In the words of Romain Rolland Sri Ramakrishna ..was the consummation of two thousand years of the spiritual life of three hundred million people. Sri Ramakrishna is one of the great religious teachers of our age,deeply revered in India and throughout the world.For many seekers,his life and teachings offer enough inspiration for a lifetime and more.Yet just as the power and warmth of the sun can be appreciated more immediately if we notice how it warms and gives life to all that it touches,it is edifying to read the stories of the people who were transformed by Sri Ramakrishna s words,actions and insights.Swami Chetnananda showed this very very well in They Lived with God where he recorded the life stories of twenty eight disciples were changed by Sri Ramakrishna.God lived with them,which recounts the lives of sixteen monastic disciples,is the perfect companion to the earlier work.It is highly informative,rich in details and anecdotes which make vivid the personal stories of these men who chose to leave everything and follow their master. The book can also be an immediate resource for prayerful reading and contemplation as the reader savours and takes personally to heart the encounters and words of practical wisdom which fills its pages.Swami chetananda has once again performed an admirable act of scholarly devotion by bringing together the early memories of these disciples of Sri Ramakrishna.
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First published November 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 25, 2017
A part of you will never be the same again after finishing this book. This book changes you for the better.
September 6, 2016
Finished this book in a day, din't felt like putting it down. This book offer quick glance over life of disciples about 16 of Ramkrishna Paramhansa, but more interesting part of that summary was lucid, clear no background and start right upfront from the first page. Transition was smooth from story to story, few things are repetitive but end the day, stories are captivating
Quick read for travel and leisure time and beautifully crafted !
Quick read for travel and leisure time and beautifully crafted !
July 2, 2019
A must read for people on spiritual path. Gives detail insights of lives of Ramkrishna Paramhansa's devotees.
August 10, 2020
I started reading this book because I wanted to know the lives and the impact of the direct disciples of Sri Ramkrishna. Not only did I understand them more, I also understood Sri Ramkrishna's teachings more through the disciples themselves.
This book takes you through the lives of the 16 direct disciples that Sri Ramkrishna himself groomed. They are a diverse group of disciples from all walks of life and from equally diverse backgrounds. Reading their lives makes you wonder what the spiritual strength of this great soul might have been.
I strongly recommend reading this book especially for Western readers. Swami Chetanananda has spent a lot of years in the West and he has a very clear and lucid style of explaining that makes it appealing to readers in the West.
This book takes you through the lives of the 16 direct disciples that Sri Ramkrishna himself groomed. They are a diverse group of disciples from all walks of life and from equally diverse backgrounds. Reading their lives makes you wonder what the spiritual strength of this great soul might have been.
I strongly recommend reading this book especially for Western readers. Swami Chetanananda has spent a lot of years in the West and he has a very clear and lucid style of explaining that makes it appealing to readers in the West.
August 24, 2025
Swami Chetanananda’s God Lived With Them has, over the years, come to occupy a quietly influential space in the library of modern Indian spirituality.
First published in 1989, the book set out to tell the stories of sixteen monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, those who, in the late nineteenth century, gave shape to the Ramakrishna Order and carried forward the legacy of their master.
What makes the volume striking is its fusion of biography, hagiography, and devotional testimony, producing something that is at once an archive of lives and a meditation on what it means to live under the constant shadow of a teacher regarded as divine.
Chetanananda’s narrative is plain and straightforward in method: each chapter introduces a single disciple, starting with details of family background and early life, leading to the decisive moment of encounter with Ramakrishna, and then following the arc of transformation into a renunciate devoted to service, meditation, and teaching.
Yet the simplicity of this structure conceals the depth of the material. The author relies not only on standard biographies but also on letters, memoirs, and oral traditions preserved within the Order. In doing so, he creates a layered text that gives the reader both a sense of historical reliability and the warmth of intimate recollection.
The devotional accent of the book is unmistakable. Miraculous visions, extraordinary austerities, and profound mystical states are narrated without hesitation. For the believer, these accounts are sources of inspiration, reminders that human life can be transfigured by the touch of grace. For the academic reader, they reveal how hagiographical writing works in practice, weaving memory, devotion, and identity into a single tapestry.
One of the strengths of the book is that it does not reduce the disciples to statues of marble. Their struggles, doubts, and physical sufferings are recorded alongside their exalted states, which allows the reader to glimpse the very human effort that underlies sainthood. The portrayal of Swami Brahmananda’s quiet authority, Swami Shivananda’s discipline, or Swami Premananda’s gentleness shows how diverse personalities were drawn into the orbit of one master and yet retained their individuality.
The contribution of this work is especially valuable in bringing forward those disciples who remain in the shadow of the better-known figures such as Swami Vivekananda. While Vivekananda looms large in both scholarship and popular imagination, his brother monks carried the mission into daily institutional life, building monasteries, schools, and centres of service.
Chetanananda’s text recovers their voices and helps us understand that the Ramakrishna movement was not the achievement of one man alone but the collective effort of a fraternity shaped in the crucible of Dakshineswar. In this sense, the book is as much history as it is inspiration.
Of course, when judged by the rigorous criteria of critical historiography, the book reveals its limitations. It seldom cross-checks insider accounts with outside sources, and miraculous episodes are not subjected to interpretive scrutiny. Lay disciples, too, receive little attention, even though they played important roles in shaping the wider appeal of the movement.
Yet it would be unfair to measure the book solely by academic yardsticks, because its intent is not that of detached scholarship but of devotional remembrance. It seeks to preserve and transmit the living spirit of the disciples, not to analyse them from a distance.
In the end, the enduring charm of God Lived With Them lies in this very refusal to separate devotion from documentation. It offers a window into the inner world of men who believed that the divine had walked among them and had remade their lives. For practitioners of Vedanta, the book serves as a guide and a source of inspiration.
For scholars, it stands as a case study of how modern Hindu monasticism records its own history through reverential narrative. And for the general reader, it is simply a collection of moving life stories that show how ideals can be embodied in frail human flesh. In presenting these portraits, Swami Chetanananda has given us not just a set of biographies but a meditation on discipleship itself.
The work remains a classic within the literature of the Ramakrishna tradition and continues to speak across audiences—devotees, historians, seekers—each finding in it a different but equally compelling kind of truth.
First published in 1989, the book set out to tell the stories of sixteen monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, those who, in the late nineteenth century, gave shape to the Ramakrishna Order and carried forward the legacy of their master.
What makes the volume striking is its fusion of biography, hagiography, and devotional testimony, producing something that is at once an archive of lives and a meditation on what it means to live under the constant shadow of a teacher regarded as divine.
Chetanananda’s narrative is plain and straightforward in method: each chapter introduces a single disciple, starting with details of family background and early life, leading to the decisive moment of encounter with Ramakrishna, and then following the arc of transformation into a renunciate devoted to service, meditation, and teaching.
Yet the simplicity of this structure conceals the depth of the material. The author relies not only on standard biographies but also on letters, memoirs, and oral traditions preserved within the Order. In doing so, he creates a layered text that gives the reader both a sense of historical reliability and the warmth of intimate recollection.
The devotional accent of the book is unmistakable. Miraculous visions, extraordinary austerities, and profound mystical states are narrated without hesitation. For the believer, these accounts are sources of inspiration, reminders that human life can be transfigured by the touch of grace. For the academic reader, they reveal how hagiographical writing works in practice, weaving memory, devotion, and identity into a single tapestry.
One of the strengths of the book is that it does not reduce the disciples to statues of marble. Their struggles, doubts, and physical sufferings are recorded alongside their exalted states, which allows the reader to glimpse the very human effort that underlies sainthood. The portrayal of Swami Brahmananda’s quiet authority, Swami Shivananda’s discipline, or Swami Premananda’s gentleness shows how diverse personalities were drawn into the orbit of one master and yet retained their individuality.
The contribution of this work is especially valuable in bringing forward those disciples who remain in the shadow of the better-known figures such as Swami Vivekananda. While Vivekananda looms large in both scholarship and popular imagination, his brother monks carried the mission into daily institutional life, building monasteries, schools, and centres of service.
Chetanananda’s text recovers their voices and helps us understand that the Ramakrishna movement was not the achievement of one man alone but the collective effort of a fraternity shaped in the crucible of Dakshineswar. In this sense, the book is as much history as it is inspiration.
Of course, when judged by the rigorous criteria of critical historiography, the book reveals its limitations. It seldom cross-checks insider accounts with outside sources, and miraculous episodes are not subjected to interpretive scrutiny. Lay disciples, too, receive little attention, even though they played important roles in shaping the wider appeal of the movement.
Yet it would be unfair to measure the book solely by academic yardsticks, because its intent is not that of detached scholarship but of devotional remembrance. It seeks to preserve and transmit the living spirit of the disciples, not to analyse them from a distance.
In the end, the enduring charm of God Lived With Them lies in this very refusal to separate devotion from documentation. It offers a window into the inner world of men who believed that the divine had walked among them and had remade their lives. For practitioners of Vedanta, the book serves as a guide and a source of inspiration.
For scholars, it stands as a case study of how modern Hindu monasticism records its own history through reverential narrative. And for the general reader, it is simply a collection of moving life stories that show how ideals can be embodied in frail human flesh. In presenting these portraits, Swami Chetanananda has given us not just a set of biographies but a meditation on discipleship itself.
The work remains a classic within the literature of the Ramakrishna tradition and continues to speak across audiences—devotees, historians, seekers—each finding in it a different but equally compelling kind of truth.
March 6, 2025
This book provides an intimate portrayal of the spiritual seekers who dedicated their lives to following their master's teachings. It details the life stories of sixteen monastic disciples, offering rich anecdotes and personal accounts that bring these historical figures to life. Chetanananda's work is particularly valuable for its inclusion of previously unknown information about these disciples, making it a significant contribution to the literature on the Ramakrishna Mission.
The book serves multiple purposes. It provides a deeper understanding of the Ramakrishna Mission's early history and development, offers insights into the teachings and ideology of Sri Ramakrishna himself, which have fascinated spiritual aspirants for about 150 years, and sheds light on the Hindu revivalism movement in 20th century India.
Chetanananda's writing is engaging and vivid, making the personal stories of these disciples come alive for readers. The book is structured in a way that allows readers to gain a comprehensive understanding of each disciple's journey. "God Lived With Them" is a valuable resource for those interested in the Ramakrishna Mission, Indian spirituality, and the lives of devoted spiritual seekers.
While it presents an overall positive view of its subjects, it also provides enough depth and complexity to allow readers to form their own judgments about the disciples and their teachings. The book's greatest strength lies in its ability to demystify the Ramakrishna Mission while still preserving the essence of its spiritual legacy.
The book serves multiple purposes. It provides a deeper understanding of the Ramakrishna Mission's early history and development, offers insights into the teachings and ideology of Sri Ramakrishna himself, which have fascinated spiritual aspirants for about 150 years, and sheds light on the Hindu revivalism movement in 20th century India.
Chetanananda's writing is engaging and vivid, making the personal stories of these disciples come alive for readers. The book is structured in a way that allows readers to gain a comprehensive understanding of each disciple's journey. "God Lived With Them" is a valuable resource for those interested in the Ramakrishna Mission, Indian spirituality, and the lives of devoted spiritual seekers.
While it presents an overall positive view of its subjects, it also provides enough depth and complexity to allow readers to form their own judgments about the disciples and their teachings. The book's greatest strength lies in its ability to demystify the Ramakrishna Mission while still preserving the essence of its spiritual legacy.
June 14, 2023
Concise biographies of extraordinary disciples.
Those who read this book will gain great insight into how the disciples were trained and perfected by their wonderful teacher Sri Ramakrishna, and how they themselves later became conduits of his spiritual power.
The book contains rich details and interesting anecdotes which make vivid the personal stories of these men who chose to leave everything and follow their master. It is written in an engaging manner and will be a great source of inspiration for anyone.
This book is a wonderful gift to humanity. One must be really fortunate to be able to get such a fascinating glimpse into the lives of God-men.
Those who read this book will gain great insight into how the disciples were trained and perfected by their wonderful teacher Sri Ramakrishna, and how they themselves later became conduits of his spiritual power.
The book contains rich details and interesting anecdotes which make vivid the personal stories of these men who chose to leave everything and follow their master. It is written in an engaging manner and will be a great source of inspiration for anyone.
This book is a wonderful gift to humanity. One must be really fortunate to be able to get such a fascinating glimpse into the lives of God-men.
May 31, 2023
Truely inspiring
This book is an invaluable treasure for all those who are looking for inspiration on their journey of spiritual attainment. One gets an insight into the lives of the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna and also into the life of Sri Ramakrishna himself. Much to learn here.
This book is an invaluable treasure for all those who are looking for inspiration on their journey of spiritual attainment. One gets an insight into the lives of the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna and also into the life of Sri Ramakrishna himself. Much to learn here.
July 28, 2021
When God chooses you, what more do you need?
August 20, 2024
Life stories of inspiring personalities, each in unique ways.
April 30, 2023
I read this 650-odd page book in September 2018. I did not intend to write a review of it until this morning when I did the index for the book, something that I do for all the books that I read: it helps me to remember the significant issues that have been raised in the work, the authors' views, and other factoids that are similar to the other books that I have read. I make cross-references, in this regard.
Some readers have hailed "God Lived with Them" as a masterpiece, and the majority have given it, if I may resort to the trite expression, "glowing reviews", and the people who have waxed lyrical about Swami Chetanananda's work have, in the main, been captivated by the intimate accounts of the 16 disciples, information which had, hitherto, been unknown, perhaps until this text, to the general public and people outside the Ramakrishna Mission.
I should agree that the work has afforded us the rare privilege to take a peek behind the history of the Mission, at the lives and even thoughts of the disciples who were trained by Swami Sri Ramakrishna. But I chose the work for another essentia reason: to examine the ideas and ideology of the Master who has, for about 150 years, been a curious source of fascination to spiritual aspirants as well as to people who endeavour to gain a deeper perception of the spiritual movements in India that have informed Hindu revivalism in the 20th century.
If I had not read the book, I should not have known that Sri Ramakrishna had 16 close disciples, and of whom five had received schooling, and of the five, two had been graduated from college, and ten of the 16 did not complete their formal education, and was one was even unlettered.
Including Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, eight of them were Brahmins, and eight of the 16 disciples had had been acquainted with the Brahmo Samaj, which had largely been influenced by monotheistic religions and modern science, and had its foundation in reformed spiritual Hinduism with vital elements of Judeo-Islamic faith and practices. It was a socio-religious movement like Arya Samaj that appeared in India in the 19th century.
Although Brahmo Samaj was inspired by the Vedas, Upanishads and other Hindu scriptures, it believed in the Western philosophy and culture --- that explains why the Samaj had full faith in the British government.
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was familiar with and was favourably disposed to Brahmo Samaj, a fact that explains why he did not criticise his disciples who were in the grips of the Samaj's pernicious control.
I should thank the author for revealing a number of useful information about the 16 disciples' formative years, and about the doctrines and beliefs that formed the bedrock of the Mission. It is only when we get to make a close study of a spiritual person's mind, habits, beliefs and philosophy, which can be seen through their quotidian routines, can we say whether it is right to bestow upon him titles like "Mahatmas", "enlightened master" and "guru".
In the book, there are a number of disconcerting episodes in the lives of the 16 disciples and the Paramahamsa, which make us pause to review their teachings and satsangs. There are a quite a large number of incredible and incredulous assertions and proclamations that invariably cause one to wonder how the authors easily got away with them! Much of what Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa had preached, and many of the beliefs that Swami Vivekananda staunchly believed in are heterodox and infuriatingly iconoclastic. I am, therefore, not surprised that Swami Sivananda of Divine Life Society did not join the Mission.
I discovered a lot of contradictions between what 16 disciples and their Master preached and what they actually practised. Paradoxically, this could be one of the main reasons why many Indians and Hindus in the 20th century were sympathetic to Sri Ramakrishna and especially to Swami Vivekananda.
In these ways, the book has, to a considerable extent, allowed me to acquire a better understanding of the Mission and the people who laid the foundation for the organisation, which has always been shrewdly shrouded in mysticism and nebulosity.
I have given the book a five-star rating not because I subscribe to the Mission's strange beliefs but because the author has given me an opportunity to see the Mission as it is.
Some readers have hailed "God Lived with Them" as a masterpiece, and the majority have given it, if I may resort to the trite expression, "glowing reviews", and the people who have waxed lyrical about Swami Chetanananda's work have, in the main, been captivated by the intimate accounts of the 16 disciples, information which had, hitherto, been unknown, perhaps until this text, to the general public and people outside the Ramakrishna Mission.
I should agree that the work has afforded us the rare privilege to take a peek behind the history of the Mission, at the lives and even thoughts of the disciples who were trained by Swami Sri Ramakrishna. But I chose the work for another essentia reason: to examine the ideas and ideology of the Master who has, for about 150 years, been a curious source of fascination to spiritual aspirants as well as to people who endeavour to gain a deeper perception of the spiritual movements in India that have informed Hindu revivalism in the 20th century.
If I had not read the book, I should not have known that Sri Ramakrishna had 16 close disciples, and of whom five had received schooling, and of the five, two had been graduated from college, and ten of the 16 did not complete their formal education, and was one was even unlettered.
Including Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, eight of them were Brahmins, and eight of the 16 disciples had had been acquainted with the Brahmo Samaj, which had largely been influenced by monotheistic religions and modern science, and had its foundation in reformed spiritual Hinduism with vital elements of Judeo-Islamic faith and practices. It was a socio-religious movement like Arya Samaj that appeared in India in the 19th century.
Although Brahmo Samaj was inspired by the Vedas, Upanishads and other Hindu scriptures, it believed in the Western philosophy and culture --- that explains why the Samaj had full faith in the British government.
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was familiar with and was favourably disposed to Brahmo Samaj, a fact that explains why he did not criticise his disciples who were in the grips of the Samaj's pernicious control.
I should thank the author for revealing a number of useful information about the 16 disciples' formative years, and about the doctrines and beliefs that formed the bedrock of the Mission. It is only when we get to make a close study of a spiritual person's mind, habits, beliefs and philosophy, which can be seen through their quotidian routines, can we say whether it is right to bestow upon him titles like "Mahatmas", "enlightened master" and "guru".
In the book, there are a number of disconcerting episodes in the lives of the 16 disciples and the Paramahamsa, which make us pause to review their teachings and satsangs. There are a quite a large number of incredible and incredulous assertions and proclamations that invariably cause one to wonder how the authors easily got away with them! Much of what Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa had preached, and many of the beliefs that Swami Vivekananda staunchly believed in are heterodox and infuriatingly iconoclastic. I am, therefore, not surprised that Swami Sivananda of Divine Life Society did not join the Mission.
I discovered a lot of contradictions between what 16 disciples and their Master preached and what they actually practised. Paradoxically, this could be one of the main reasons why many Indians and Hindus in the 20th century were sympathetic to Sri Ramakrishna and especially to Swami Vivekananda.
In these ways, the book has, to a considerable extent, allowed me to acquire a better understanding of the Mission and the people who laid the foundation for the organisation, which has always been shrewdly shrouded in mysticism and nebulosity.
I have given the book a five-star rating not because I subscribe to the Mission's strange beliefs but because the author has given me an opportunity to see the Mission as it is.
July 26, 2021
As someone who newly started visiting the Ramkrishna Mission a couple of years back, I was confused when people talked about the direct disciples. I knew neither their names (other than Vivekananda, Brahmananda, and Shivananda) nor the trajectory of their spiritual lives. This book was a fantastic peek into their lives. As someone who goes through books really fast, I thought I would read this in 2-3 days. However, once I realized what this book had to offer, I read it slowly, trying to understand and reflect on the teachings of these disciples. Big thanks to Swami Chetanananda for this amazing compilation of the direct disciple life stories. Can’t recommend this enough for people interested in knowing more about Sri Ramkrishna as a guru and his effect on the lives of his disciples.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews