Hariprasanna Chattopadhyaya was born on 30 October 1868, in a respectable family of Belgharia. He had, in all probability, first seen Ramakrishna on 15 September 1879 at Keshab Chandra Sen's spiritual retreat at Belgharia. When studying in the first or second class of a High School, Hariprasanna saw Ramakrishna at Dewan Govinda Mukherji's house. It was on 18 February 1883 that Hariprasanna, then a student of the St. Xavier's College, went to Dakshineswar with his fellow students Sarat, later Saradananda (Sarat Maharaj), and Barada Pal. Ramakrishna showed great love and kindness towards Hariprasanna, which bound the latter indissolubly to the former. Hariprasanna took Ramakrishna to be his Master. He however saw the Master only a few more times in his life as he was compelled to live at Bankipore in Bihar.