Surendra Nath Mittra

Surendra Mitra was one of the prominent devotees of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He came from a very well to do background and had the fortune of sponsoring the expenditures of the Master and His devotees when the Master lived in Calcutta in His last days.

The Master suffered from a terminal throat cancer and had to be shifted to the city of Calcutta. And naturally a lot of devotees thronged the place where He lived. The young devotees like Swami Vivekananda spent almost all there time serving the Master in these days. This was the time when they took the oath of renunciation. They left their homes and dedicated their lives to serving the Master.

After the Master left His body, the young devotees of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa were told to go back home. Their spiritual practices were hindered due to lack of funding and they had to go through a difficult phase of life. It was in this phase that Sri Ramakrishna appeared in a vision to Surendra Nath Mittra and scolded him for neglecting His children.

Surendra Nath immediately jumped into action and rented a house for the young monks to stay. He also sponsored a their expenses. Many other household devotees of the Master followed Surendra's example. Swami Vivekananda and other young disciples began living in an old neglected house where they focussed on their spiritual practices.

References to Surendra Nath can be found in the 'Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' written by Mahendranath Gupta and also in 'They lived with God' written by Swami Chetanananda of the Ramakrishna Mission