Tota Puri

Swami Tota Puri (* about 1815, † November 16, 1884 ) was an Indian ascetic and guru of the Hindu mystic Ramakrishna, which he inaugurated in Shankara's monastic orders. Ramakrishna later spoke of Tota Puri as the ¸ naked ' because he as a child was usually naked. On the other hand, this was also a sign of respect to the Guru, the one traditionally does not name in India with its name, but with a description.

Tota Puri was a supporter of strict Advaita Vedanta philosophy and kept the Indian devotional piety for superstition. The world he saw as unreal, as in Maya. In order to protect themselves from arrest to worldliness he never stayed more than three days in one place and never slept under a roof. In his life he joined the philosophy of Shankara with mental yoga practice. After 40 years of practice he should have reached the nirvikalpa samadhi, the spiritual experience of non- duality.

The contact with Ramakrishna changed according to statements from his students his beliefs considerably.