The city of Godess Kali and her divine devotees

We had decided to spend 3 full days to visit all the places related to Mother Goddess, Sri Ramakrishna, Paramhansa, and Sri Vivekananda. In addition to this we had also planned to visit some of the many "Ashrams" that have been made by the various disciples of Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Vivekananda.

Kalighat is the place where there is a temple of Goddess Kali and some temples of the Lord Shiva.
Birth place of Sri Vivekananda an old dilapidated building until recently has been completely renovated to it old glory
The ashram at Kakurgachi is one of the many old, peaceful ashrams.

In addition, there are places where Sri Ramakrishna was cremated. The place where he was born is around 3 hours from Calcutta, but we could not go there.

Quick Tips:

Most of these places have a very clean simple food which is served as "Prasadam" . Please do enquire about it. If you are interested in learning about ancient Indian culture, Vedas, true meaning of life then you will find many scholars here with whom you can have a enlightening discussion. I was treated as a respected guest and was offered tea, food, snacks depending on the time of the day.

Best Way To Get Around:

Some people may discourage you stating that it would not be possible to visit more than one place at a time unless you have a taxi. Whereas we preferred to go to one place at a time - soaking into the atmosphere, it is quite possible to visit all the places in a single day without a taxi- you just have to have a right combination of metro and shared three wheelers.

If you look across the river from Belur Math you will see the small flight of stairs and a big crowd of villagers, shopkeepers, kids, and mothers. For a small fee the small boat takes you across. In the beginning you have a feeling that you are not in a temple complex but in a small fair—in fact the area just adjacent to the river is not a part of the temple complex. It is a resting, eating, and purchasing area for the devotees who throng from all over the country.

As you walk towards the temple, the bright colourful conical top of the temple catches your attention. I really got a feeling that someone had a poetry in his heart when he was designing it.

Inside, you find the temple devoted to Goddess Kali on the left-hand side and a series of Shiva temples on the right hand side. In front of you is the large courtyard—Sri Rama Krishna, Sri Vivekananda, and a score of divine devotees of the mother goddess would have walked on the same stone laid courtyard for years together as they went about serving the Goddess and spreading the knowledge imparted by her to the mankind.

The temple complex was built by Rani Rasmani and her statue can be seen on one end of the complex.

The room where Sri Ramakrihna used to stay can also be seen. His bed, and other day-to-day items tell us how simple a person he was but how divine. We saw some people sitting in deep meditation in the same room—we also sat for some time and slowly the only sound we could hear was the silent sound of the great river flowing to meet the sea. Is the man born great or the place where he works has a divine effect that ushers him into greatness? Visit Dakshineshwar—decide yourself.