On 17th of February, 1892, one of the greatest saints of modern times was born at Keota, a small village in the district of Hooghly of West Bengal, to a pious Brahmin couple Dr. Pranhari Chattopadhyaya and Malyavati Devi. His parents were deeply religious in their temperament. Both of them were extremely devoted to their family deity “Brajanath” (Lord Krishna) to whom they would offer the worship everyday. The child was called Prabodh Chandra, a very apt name as it means “The enlightenment”. In 1897, his mother Malyavati Devi passed away, when he was only about four years old. This was really unfortunate. Subsequently, his father married Giribala Devi who was looking after him with motherly affection.

Since the childhood it was evident that Prabodh Chandra inherited the piety from them. He refrained from taking breakfast before the family deities were duly worshipped and oblations were offered to them. Another important characteristic of him was that he was very keenly interested in listening to the chanting of the “Harinaam”, he would rush to the spot where the Naam-Samkirtan was taking place, with great delight.

Sometime in 1898, when he was about 5 or 6 years old, a significant event occurred in his life. In a room on the first floor of his ancestral home at Dumurdaha, a village in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, he was lying by the side of his father. His mother and sister too were there. The boy pointed out to the southern window and told his father that Lord Shiva was standing near that window. The father, however, could not see but enquired his son as to how Lord Shiva looked. The boy replied that Lord Shiva was of white complexion, was wearing tiger skin and his hair was matted on head. He was three eyed with a trident in the left hand and a small drum shaped tabor in the right hand. He described what he had seen. In the meantime Lord Shiva vanished. His parents and others did not attach much importance to this incident, as they thought that it was possibly the product of the boy’s fertile imagination and forgot about it.