You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say that there are no stars in the heavens during the day? Because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.

Ramakrishna was born in a poor Brahmin Vaishnava family in rural Bengal. By the time his bride joined him Ramakrishna had already embraced the monastic life of a sannyasi; as a result the marriage was never consummated.

He became a priest of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple dedicated to the goddess Kali which had the influence of the main strands of Bengali bhakti tradition. Ramakrishna was born in a poor Brahmin Vaishnava family in rural Bengal. Though he quit conventional education he attracted the attention of the middle class upper middle class and numerous Bengali intellectuals.