Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Kolkata, West Bengal

Dakshineswar Kali Temple is situated alongside the Vivekananda Bridge north of Calcutta, about 20 km. from BBD Bagh. It is famous for its association - with Ramkrishna who achieved spiritual vision here. This temple was built by Rani Rashmoni in 1847. The 12- spired temple with its enormous courtyard is surrounded by 12 other temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is a world famous place of pilgrimage and it was here that the famous religious thinker Rama Krishna Paramahamsa achieved his spiritual vision and preached the unity of all religions.

Ramakrishna served as temple's head priest. From the first days of his service in the shrine of the goddess Kali, he was filled with a rare form of love for the Goddess known in Hinduism as maha-bhava. Worshiping in front of the statue of Kali, Ramakrishna would be overcome with such ecstatic love for the deity that he would fall to the ground and immersed in spiritual trance, lose all consciousness of the external world. Ramakrishna fully realized the infinite and all-inclusive nature of the divine.