The Ramakrishna Mission as National Heritage and Heritage of Bengal

Article written for the Hindustan Times in August, 20133, with the title, "The best of Ram and Krishna".

The Ramakrishna Math and Mission were established by Swami Vivekananda at Balaram Mandir in Bagbazar on May Ist, 1897, four years after Swamiji’s spectacular success at the Parliament of Religions at Chicago, where he spoke on Hinduism. Before its present location at Belur where the land was bought by Swamijji in March 1898, the Ramakrishna movement was housed at the Baranagore monastery (1887-1892), Alambazar monastery (1892--1898), Nilambar Mukherjee’s garden house ( 1898), before permanently moving into its present 7 acre grounds on January 2, 1899. It is to be remembered in this context that Ms. Henrietta Mueller contributed the entire money for the purchase of the land (39,000) and Mrs. Sarah Bull, an American devotee of Swamiji, contributed one lakh rupees towards the building of Sri Ramakrishna’s temple. 

Swamiji’s decision to found an organization which would jointly promote the ideal of sannyas or renunciation and service to mankind may be summed up in his own words and which serves as the motto of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission today: Atmano mokshartham Jagaddhitaya cha which means “for one’s own salvation and for the welfare of the world.” The twin concepts of service and renunciation are perhaps directly derived from Sri Ramakrishna’s emphatic dismissal of the practice of compassion (daya) to one’s fellow human beings, arguing that human beings should be served with veneration instead of compassion alone: “Bolo shivajnane jeebo sheba” (Kathamrita). Along with this was Sri Ramakrishna’s emphatic assertion of sannyas as one of the highest ideals of human life. This union of the ascetic principle as a path to self-realization derived from Vedanta and welding it to a principle of service to humanity is what Swamiji called Practical Vedanta. Sri Sarada Devi, Sri Ramakrishna’s consort is also considered to be one of the prime inspirational sources of the Math and Mission, the precincts of Belur Math opening with the Saradapith, which is a temple to Sri Sarada Devi.

The foundation stone for the present temple was laid by Swami Shivananda, the second President of the Order, on 16th May, 1935, and the temple was consecrated on Makar Sankranti, January 14th, 1938. The temple amalgamates structural and stylistic motifs from Christian, Buddhist, Islamic and Rajput temple and secular architecture, carrying to fruition many of Swami Vivekananda’s artistic visions of a temple for Sri Ramakrishna who stood for the universality and oneness of all religions. Swami Vijanananda, Swami Vivekananda’s brother disciple and a structural engineer in his pre-monastic life designed the temple, Gopeshwar Pal sculpted Sri Ramakrishna’s statue and Nandalal Bose “conceived” of the temple decorations. 

Today, the Ramakrishna Math and Mission has 176 centers in all, 128 in India and several centers abroad, 13 in the U.S.A., where Swamiji actually began his work on the spreading of Vedantic ideals, in Brazil, Argentina, England, France, Germany, Holland and Russia, Australia, Fiji, Mauritius, Malayasia, Singapore, Japan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and South Africa .The accent in centers abroad is perhaps more on the spread of Vedantic philosophy, while in India the emphasis is jointly on the dissemination of Ramakrishna/Vivekananda philosophy and service of humanity through exemplary educational institutions, building of hospitals, child and adult uplifting in poverty ruled areas, famine, flood and other disaster relief work. Some of its most outstanding educational institutions in Bengal include Belur Vidyamandir (autonomous), Narendrapur school and college (autonomous), Rahara Ramkrishna Mission and Deoghar Vidyapeeth, in neighboring Jharkand. Some of its most active centers of research are RMIC Golpark, which as its Secretary, Swami Sarvabhutananda said, was a centre “for cultural dialogue and philanthropic activities,” and Vivekananda University (Belur). Swamiji’s House, restored in 2004 and declared a National Heritage site, already nurtures the youth of North Kolkata with many value education programs, and facilities for computer and English language literacy.

In the opinion of Swami Bodhasarananda, “The Ramakrishna Movement is a force to be reckoned with all over the world today” and Swami Suparnananda stressed how the Math and Mission tried to bring a worship of the “divine” into all its activities. One must remember Sister Nivedita’s words regarding Swamiji in the introduction to his Complete Works (1907) in this context: “Had he not lived, texts that today will carry the bread of life to thousands might have remained the obscure disputes of scholars…For he himself had plunged to the depths of the realization which he reached, and he came back, like Ramanuja, only to tell its secrets to the pariah, the outcast, and the foreigner. “

Important Dates:

• 1836: Birth of Sri Ramakrishna

• 1856: Sri Ramakrishna becomes pujari or temple priest at the Kali temple at Dakshineshwar

• 1859: Marriage to Sri Sarada Devi

• 1861—1865: Period of intense sadhana

• 1863: Birth of Narendranath Dutta, later Swami Vivekananda

• 1881 (November): Meeting with Sri Ramakrishna

• 1886 (August) : Passing away of Sri Ramakrishna

• 1886 (December 24th) Vivekananda’s vow of sannyas and adoption of name Bibidishananda (January 1887), later changed to Vivekananda by Maharaja of Khetri

• 1893: Parliament of Religions at Chicago

• 1899: Belur Math

• 1901: Ramakrishna Math and Mission becomes a trusteeship

• 2012—2013: Vivekananda Centenary Year