Devotion to the goddess as a means of attaining experience of the Supreme Reality is especially exemplified in the life of Ramakrishna, the great saint of nineteenth- century India who served Mother Kali at the Dakshinesvar Kali Temple in North Calcutta. Ramkrishna has described how the whole current of his mind began to flow towards the Mother, how he longed to come face to face with her, and in an agony of restlessness, vowed he would kill himself unless she appeared to him. At the peak of his longing he felt, he said:

"As if someone had taken hold of my heart and mind, and was wringing them like a wet towel. My eyes fell on the sword on the wall of Mother's temple. I made up my mind to end my life that very moment. Like one mad I ran and caught hold of it, when suddenly I had the wonderful vision of the Mother and fell down unconscious. I did not know what happened then in the external world -how that day and the next slipped away."

"But in my heart of hearts there was flowing a current of intense bliss, never experienced before, and I had the immediate knowledge of the light that was the Mother. It was as if houses, doors, temples, and everything else vanished from my sight, leaving no trace whatsoever. However far and in whatever direction I looked I saw a continuous succession of effulgent waves rushing at me from all sides, with great speed. I was caught on the rush, and panting for breath I collapsed unconscious."