Ramakrishna was born in a village called Garlapadu in Andhra State
during the early part of the sixteenth century. (Some people say that he was born
in Tenali.) His father Ramaiah died when Ramakrishna was very young. The boy
was deprived of his father's love. His mother Lakshmamma returned to her native
place Tenali to live with her brother. Ramakrishna grew up in his uncle's town
and so came to be known as Tenali Ramakrishna.
Ramakrishna's mother was very anxious to educate her son. Those were
days when the Vaishnavas were powerful. They thought one caste was superior
and another inferior; they treated people according to their caste. There were
many Vaishnava teachers in the place; they refused to teach Ramakrishna
because he was a Shaiva.
Ramakrishna was not at all grieved by this. He became carefree. From
morning till night he was in the company of naughty boys; he was quite happy
eating the mango, apple and tamarind he stole from gardens.
Ramakrishna's mother was miserable because her son was utterly
illiterate. She did odd jobs in many houses and fed- herself and her boy.
By the time he was ten, Ramakrishna grew a little more sensible. In those
days education meant the study of the Vedas, the Upanishads and religious
texts. He was ashamed and sorrow-stricken because, let alone reading the
books, he could not even read the letters. He realized he was illiterate.
